Thursday December 13, 2001

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - Followers of a spiritual practice outlawed in China have been given permits to meditate en masse during the 2002 Olympics.

City officials and Olympic leaders have designated a number of protest zones where gatherings will be allowed during the Feb. 8-24 games.

Falun Dafa, also known as Falun Gong, signed up for time every day Feb. 7-24. Some of the 50-minute demonstration slots allow for up to 500 people to gather.

"They just want to show the world that peace is a good thing,'' said Josh Ewing, spokesman for Mayor Rocky Anderson. Followers of the practice meditate, exercise and read from scriptures.

City officials review applications from those who want to sign up for time in the demonstration zones, but they don't make their decisions based on what the groups plan to talk about, Ewing said.

In China, Falun Gong practitioners are routinely arrested.

Last month, six Americans and two dozen other Westerners were expelled from the country after they sat cross-legged and chanted in Tiananmen Square, protesting Beijing's suppression of the sect.

Falun Dafa is one of two groups that has already been allotted time in the protests zones. The other group is a disabled-rights organization.

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