China Sect Members Held

Associated Press, July 25, 1999

BEIJING -- The Chinese police rounded up more members of the banned sect Falun Gong Saturday, and the group used Web sites to say that protesters were attempting to converge on Beijing.

The sect was outlawed on Thursday. The Government has declared Li Hongzhi, who founded the sect in 1992 and now lives in New York, an "evil person," describing his teachings as a menace to society and his group a would-be political organization that dared to challenge Communist Party authority. He says his group has no political aspirations.