BEIJING -- At least 15 defiant members of China's banned Falun Gong spiritual movement staged a bold protest in Tiananmen Square on Tuesday, unfurling a banner during a visit by U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan to Beijing.
Witnesses said plainclothes police detained the practitioners shortly after they held up a 10-foot red banner reading: "Falun Dafa" -- another name for Falun Gong.A Hong Kong-based human rights watchdog said 30 adherents were rounded up in the morning and two more in the afternoon.
It was an unusual display of civil disobedience on the square, although scores of Falun Gong members have protested silently there since their movement was decreed an "evil cult" last month.
Police pulled down the banner and pushed down the arms of practitioners, who were holding them up, apparently trying to practice Falun Gong -- calisthenics designed to harness inner energy, mixed with Buddhist and Taoist beliefs.
Police smacked some of the protesters on the head as they were piled into a police van, which sped off, accidentally hitting a Chinese woman bystander and narrowly missing a Canadian tourist, one witness said.
The Chinese woman appeared shaken but not seriously hurt, the witness said.
Security was tight around the United Nations Development Program in Beijing in an apparent attempt to prevent Falun Gong followers from petitioning Annan.
The Hong Kong-based Information Center of Human Rights and Democratic Movement in China said practitioners urged Annan in an open letter to pay attention to human rights violations.
The letter, signed by about 3,000 adherents from three cities, detailed about 200 cases of alleged police abuse against Falun Gong followers, the centre said.
Annan said after a two-hour meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan that he had been given a full explanation of how Beijing viewed Falun Gong.
"I think I leave here with a better understanding of some of the issues involved," Annan told reporters.
Annan quoted Tang as saying: "In dealing with this issue, the fundamental rights of citizens will be respected, and some of the actions they are taking are for the protection of individuals."
Before arriving in Beijing on Sunday, Annan said he was puzzled by China's harsh crackdown on the movement and would raise the issue with Chinese leaders.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Sun Yuxi denied the allegations of persecution and told reporters that Annan "fully understood" the action China was taking.
Falun Gong members and international human rights groups have accused police of brutality in the crackdown on the movement.
The human rights group alleged at least six Falun Gong members had died in custody. The government has named three, but denies maltreatment.
Last Friday, China jailed four Falun Gong leaders in the southern island province of Hainan for up to 12 years, in the first known trial of members. They were convicted of organising illegal protests.
More than 100 Falun Gong leaders have been formally arrested in the crackdown and are expected to face trial. Many more members are under various forms of administrative detention, like labour camps, which are not subject to the judicial process.
The government banned Falun Gong in July and has vowed to wipe it out.
U.S.-based Falun Gong leader Li Hongzhi has defended his movement, saying it is apolitical and poses no threat to Communist rule. Li preaches salvation from a world corrupted by science, technology and decadence.
China's Communist rulers saw Falun Gong as one of the biggest threats to their grip on power in April after more than 10,000 members staged a surprise, silent protest outside Beijing's Zhongnanhai leadership compound to demand official recognition.
The movement claims 100 million members worldwide. The government says two million is a more accurate figure.
The group has burrowed its way into the ranks of the Communist Party, the government and the military. It has also attracted support from the most vulnerable sections of society, including the unemployed, the elderly and the sick.
The government has blamed Falun Gong for the deaths of about 1,400 practitioners. Falun Gong discourages adherents from seeking medical help.