BEIJING, July 22 (Reuters) - Chinese police on Sunday dragged at least five followers of the Falun Gong spiritual movement off Tiananmen Square, squashing sporadic protests on the second anniversary of China's crackdown on the group.
One woman was posing in a meditating position when a plainclothes officer slapped her and threw her into one of several vans that weaved through crowds of camera-toting tourists who filled the square, a witness said.
Earlier, police arrested two women after they unfurled a yellow banner protesting against China's treatment of Falun Gong.
Police grabbed the women by their hair and threw them into a van that sped away from the vast square as 30-foot (9-metre) high speakers blared patriotic songs, a witness said.
Officers also arrested a man and a woman protesting nearby.
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.
FORMER FOLLOWERS RECANT
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 that sets out to discredit Falun Gong, which is based loosely on Taoism, Buddhism and traditional Chinese exercises.
State-owned newspapers on Sunday showed pictures of a group of more than 100 former Falun Gong followers who visited the exhibit on Saturday and praised the government for "saving" them.
"Li Hongzhi is too evil," one was quoted as saying in the Beijing Daily, referring to the group's U.S.-based founder. "The idea that the so-called Falun Gong can cure illness is a psychological trick," he said.
The exhibit shows blown-up photos of charred bodies, bludgeoned faces and illegal rituals, and emotional footage of women "saved" at government re-education camps.
HUMAN RIGHTS CONCERNS
Chinese authorities say Falun Gong is responsible for the deaths of 1,800 people by suicide or refusing medical treatment.
In the run-up to Sunday's anniversary, police set up roadblocks on roads leading to Beijing to try to catch Falun Gong adherents sneaking into the capital to demonstrate 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.
Those who went on trial for "using an evil cult to organise a homicide" included a survivor of the Chinese New Year's Eve self-immolations that resulted in two deaths.
One woman died shortly after the self-immolations and her 12-year-old daughter died seven weeks later.
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.