BEIJING, Feb. 16 -- A shoeshine man identified by Chinese authorities as a member of the banned Falun Gong spiritual group set himself on fire outside a military institute here today, prompting a fresh wave of government attacks against a movement that has withstood nearly two years of often brutal state repression.
The official Chinese media reported that Tan Yihui, 25, committed suicide by pouring gasoline over his body and igniting himself a few minutes past noon on a street in western Beijing. Residents confirmed the self-immolation and television reports showed police officers covering a charred, shriveled corpse with a white body bag and zipping it shut.
Tan is the sixth Chinese identified as a Falun Gong member to set himself on fire in the capital in the past month. Five others set themselves ablaze on Jan. 23 in Tiananmen Square. One woman died and the others, including a 12-year-old girl, remain hospitalized.
That incident led the government to launch a vitriolic public relations campaign against Falun Gong featuring footage of the burned girl crying for her mother. It also drew international attention to China's crackdown on the group, which has had thousands of its members arrested and as many as 120 die in police custody, several allegedly after being tortured.
Falun Gong's refusal to yield despite such tactics has presented the ruling Communist Party with a challenge unlike any other it has faced. Judging by state news reports, today's suicide will lead the party to intensify what it described this week as a "war to the end."
The public suicide comes just four days before a delegation from the International Olympic Committee is scheduled to arrive in Beijing to evaluate the city's bid for the 2008 Summer Games. Human rights activists cite China's campaign against Falun Gong as one reason it should not be allowed to host the event.
Police cleared Tiananmen Square at least once today and officers searched trucks entering the city. Authorities at railway and bus stations across the country are also trying to prevent Falun Gong adherents from reaching Beijing, often demanding passengers denounce Li Hongzhi, the group's U.S.-based leader, before allowing them to travel.
The government considers Falun Gong an evil cult with ties to anti-Chinese forces in the West and blames it for the deaths of hundreds of practitioners. But for years, the group operated with some state support, attracting followers from a wide cross-section of society, including intellectuals, soldiers, old party members and millions of others searching for values in fast-changing China.
Falun Gong members, who practice a mix of Buddhism, Taoism and traditional Chinese breathing exercises, insist their movement is peaceful and nonpolitical. The group's leaders also say the people who set themselves on fire cannot be true Falun Gong followers because their faith forbids violence and suicide.
That has not stopped many human rights advocates from portraying the self-immolations as dramatic acts of protest against the Falun Gong crackdown. Others believe the individuals were adherents driven over the edge by a government forcing believers from their homes and taking away their jobs. But China's leaders -- and many of its citizens -- insist the people were cult victims deluded into trying to enter heaven.
The mystery only deepened with today's suicide, which occurred in a plain neighborhood dominated by military households. State news reports quoted Tan's neighbors describing him as a Falun Gong adherent from the city of Chengde in central China and said a six-page suicide note was discovered near his body.