China yesterday banned the mystical Falungong sect and launched a massive propaganda offensive against its founder, Mr Li Hongzhi, in the toughest security measures since the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown.
"Because the Falun Dafa research organisation has not registered according to law, it has been decided that it is an illegal organisation," an official statement said, broadcast on state-run Central China Television (CCTV).
The organisation had "engaged in illegal activities, advocating superstition and spreading fallacies, hoodwinking people, inciting and creating disturbances, and jeopardising social stability", the announcement said.
Falungong mixes Buddhist and Taoist philosophies with Chinese deep breathing exercises known as Qi Gong.
Nervous at the perceived threat from the highly-organised sect, the Chinese government brought in security measures not seen since the 1989 crackdown on Tianan men Square protesters, when martial law was eventually declared in Beijing. "The last police order like this was in 1989," a source close to Chinese officials said. "It's very unusual for such documents to be issued."
On the streets of the capital, uniformed police on motorcycles combed the main east-west artery, Chang'an Boulevard, questioning any small groups and examining the books of passersby.
At Zhongnanhai, the seat of the central government where 10,000 Falungong followers staged a mass silent protest in April, uniformed and plain clothes police patrolled intersections and entrances.
Police vans were also stationed outside Beijing Railway Station where most practitioners from the provinces would arrive.
The ban, ordered by President Jiang Zemin at an emergency politburo meeting on Monday, came amid a stepped-up campaign against the sect.
Some 30,000 Falungong members protested in 30 cities in 12 provinces on Wednesday, the Hong-Kong-based Centre of Human Rights and Democratic Movement said yesterday. In Beijing, several thousand Falungong members were yesterday penned in at stadiums in Shijingshan in the west, and Fengtai district in the south-west, with armed police guarding them, witnesses said.
The Communist Party Central Committee sent out a circular forbidding party members to practise Falungong, while state media ran a lengthy profile of the leader, Mr Li Hongzhi, denouncing him as a fake.
An editorial to appear in today's People's Daily accuses Mr Li of ulterior motives, including destroying people's minds, disturbing public order and disrupting social stability.
According to state media, consequences of practising Falungong include loss of appetite, sickness, handicaps, disorganisation and paranoia, while practitioners have been known to become both suicidal and "cold-blooded killers".
"Li Hongzhi, the founder of Falungong, is not the highest Buddha . . . but an evil person who has had an extremely disastrous effect on society," the official news agency, Xinhua, said.
"He was just like the other kids in school," his class monitor in primary school said on television, echoing a comment made by a middle-aged woman who said she used to be Mr Li's neighbour.
"His only talent in childhood, many said, was the ability to play the trumpet," Xinhua added.
Mr Li was born on July 7th, 1952, and not May 13th, 1951, as he had claimed, reports said, adding that Mr Li had altered the date so that he could claim to be a reincarnation of Sakyamuni, the founder of Buddhism.
Li collected donations from followers for supposedly curing their ailments. Between 1993-1994, he earned more than 1.2 million yuan (US$145,000) from teachings and book royalties, according to the news agency.