Sydney Morning Herald: Australians arrested in Falun Gong meditation protest

Four Australians were among dozens of foreigners arrested in China's Tiananmen Square because they belong to the Falun Gong [group].

Kate Douglas, 21, Chris Cominos, aged in his 30s, Myrna Mack and Kay Belonogoff were detained by Chinese police yesterday while taking part in a peaceful meditation protest in support of the banned [group].

They were arrested shortly after 2pm when they sat in Beijing's main square with other followers of the group.

Caterina Vereshaka, a practitioner of Falun Gong in Melbourne, said the four were held overnight by police and were released early today.

She said no-one had spoken to the arrested Australians since yesterday, when Mr Cominos telephoned a friend in Sydney to say he was being arrested.

Mrs Vereshaka said the organisation's New York office had informed them the four, two from Sydney and two from Melbourne, had been released.

She said it was unclear whether they would be immediately deported, placed under hotel arrest or allowed to remain in Beijing with police escorts until their scheduled flights home on Friday.

Mrs Vereshaka said neither Ms Douglas nor Mr Cominos had travelled to China before, but felt compelled to join the protest against the human rights atrocities in China.

"It's expected that the rest of the contingent would go in about a week's time," he said.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/0111/21/national/national104.html