Thousands of Chinese police erected a ring of steel around Tiananmen
Square today as they crushed sporadic protests by the banned Falun Gong movement a day after a group suicide attempt.
Uniform and undercover officers set up cordons at every entrance to the square in central Beijing to prevent mass protests by the spiritual sect to mark the first day of Chinese New Year.
Yesterday, a woman died and four other members of the outlawed sect were injured after turning themselves into human torches in the apparent mass suicide attempt.
The incident raises the stakes in the stand-off between the group and the government, which banned the sect as an “evil cult” in July 1999.
It also comes as Beijing's bid to host the 2008 Olympic Games gathers pace. An International Olympic Committee inspection team is due to visit the capital in February and China fears its often brutal suppression of Falun Gong could be damaging.
Despite the some of the tightest security on the area in a decade, around a dozen practitioners managed to slip through the net today to make a series of scattered protests, waving red banners or chanting Falun Gong slogans.
They were immediately tackled by crowds of police and dragged to nearby vehicles. Some were punched in the face and kicked.
Other followers were detained as undercover officers checked identity cards of everybody entering the square, asking many if they were Falun Gong members or telling them to denounce Falun Gong founder, Mr Li Hongzhi.
AFP