On the second anniversary of a crackdown on the Falun Gong, Chinese police todayat least four members of the spiritual movement off Tiananmen Square after they unfurled a yellow protest banner, witnesses said.
Two women held up the banner protesting the treatment of Falun Gong members.
Police grabbed them by their hair and threw them into a van after they tried to flee, the witness said.
Plainclothes officers also arrested a man and a woman protesting nearby and bundled them into two separate vans that sped away from the vast square filled with camera-toting tourists.
The protests demonstrated the stubborn resistance of the Falun Gong in the face of a massive government propaganda campaign and the biggest security operation since the aftermath of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre of pro-democracy protests.
Two years after banning the group as an evil cult , Beijing's propaganda effort in recent days has focused on a new museum exhibition in Beijing.
Chinese authorities say Falun Gong is responsible for the deaths of 1,800 people by suicide or refusing medical treatment. The movement is based on elements of Taoism, Buddhism and traditional Chinese meditation and exercises.
In the run-up to today's anniversary, police set up roadblocks on roads leading to Beijing to try to catch Falun Gong adherents sneaking in to the capital and demonstrating on Tiananmen.
Trucks were searched and drivers questioned as part of the nationwide security operation that has bred public resentment and anger because it has distracted police from fighting crime.
China last week put on trial five Falun Gong followers for their alleged role in a fiery group suicide attempt at Tiananmen Square in January, state media reported.
The Beijing First Intermediate People's Court heard the case of survivor Wang Jindong, as well as four others who were accused of plotting the January 23rd suicide attempt by five alleged Falun Gong adherents, the Beijing Daily said.
One woman died shortly after the self-immolations and her 12-year old daughter died seven weeks later. The badly burned girl was the centrepiece of a government campaign to discredit Falun Gong and its leader, Li.
Falun Gong has denied that the five self-immolators belonged to the movement.
China's battle with the spiritual group has sparked international concern about abuse of religious freedom and civil liberties.
Since 1999, tens of thousands of Falun Gong followers have been detained for protesting on Tiananmen Square.
Human rights groups say thousands of members are in labour camps and at least 200 have died of abuse in police custody.