The New York Times: The Falun Gong Remembers

April 26, 2001

BEIJING - Members of the banned Falun Gong spiritual group staged small scattered protests Wednesday on Tiananmen Square in an attempt to commemorate the second anniversary of a massive silent sit-in the group held outside the Chinese leadership compound, seeking government recognition.

That brazen 10,000-strong demonstration in 1999, which took the Chinese government totally by surprise, catapulted the once obscure spiritual group into international awareness but also, a few months later, led to the Chinese government ban.

Wednesday, at least 32 members of the group were detained as they adopted Falun Gong's typical meditative pose or unfurled small banners with slogans such as "Falun Gong is Good." They arrived in groups of two and three - some couples with small children - and were often pushed or hit by police as they were herded into the police vans that have become fixtures on the square in the past 18 months.

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Falun Gong was labeled an "[Chinese government's slanderous term omitted]" and banned by China's leaders in July 1999. Since then, state media have been filled with invective against the group, schoolchildren have had to attend anti-Falun Gong classes and recalcitrant Falun Gong members have been subjected to police harassment, detention and - for organizers - long prison terms.

From the time of the group's ban until early this year, group members have staged small, silent acts of civil disobedience on Tiananmen Square almost daily. It had become a routine: One or two group members would climb the stairs onto the square, strike a pose indicating they were a Falun Gong practitioner - and promptly be arrested.

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After months of the government crackdown, many of the most persistent Falun Gong activists are now in custody. Up to 10,000 followers are in labor camps, according to human-rights groups, and more than 100 have died in custody.