Eight German citizens were arrested today at around 7:20 A.M. (4:20 P.M. Beijing time) on Tiananmen Square and taken away in a bus. They had participated in a peaceful demonstration for freedom of belief in the PRC, so relates the IGFM in Frankfurt. (Note: IGFM stands for Internationale Gesellschaft fuer Menschenrechte which means International Association for Human Rights ).

Participating in this demonstration were Falun Gong practitioners from Switzerland, France, Great Britain, Sweden, USA, Israel, Australia, Ireland, and Canada. One person was injured. Four of the arrested Germans came from the Frankfurt region. The German demonstrators are Peter Recknagel, Monika Weiss, Dominik Henselmann, Mathias Schmelz, Nina Gumpold, Wolfgang Gumpold, Marion Ogorek, and Vitali Uhl. Shortly before their flight they issued a statement, which told of their decision to take this step.

Foremost on their agenda, the practitioners wish to raise awareness of the more than two years of unrelenting persecution of Falun Gong in China, and to see the notorious "610 Office" dissolved (The 610 Office is an agency specifically created to persecute Falun Gong, with absolute power over each level of administration in the Party and all other political and judiciary systems). The German government up to this point has kept silent about the subject of human rights in China and also about the "610 Office." This office is administered by a Party leader in Beijing by the name of Luo Gan, who also administers the Committee for Law and Politics of the Chinese XX Party. This "610 Office" has an independent network of district offices, reaching down to the local levels. Edicts of this bureau take priority over judiciary principles.

The IGFM demanded that Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer immediately intervene for the release of the detained demonstrators and for the release of all prisoners of conscience in China.