BEIJING (Reuters) - China denounced the Falun Gong spiritual movement Friday for "stirring up trouble" on Tiananmen Square and said some 40 Western group members detained for their chaotic protest a day earlier would be expelled soon.
Police detained the foreigners after they unfurled yellow banners and shouted "Falun Gong is Good!" in a protest on Thursday to highlight China's campaign against the movement ahead of next week's visit to Beijing by President Bush.
"Falun Gong sent foreigners to China to stir up trouble and preach about the evil cult, attempting to undermine the peaceful atmosphere of the Chinese people's joyful Spring Festival and disturb social security," Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan said in a statement.
The square erupted briefly into chaos as hundreds of plainclothes police chased the protesters, tackled some to the ground, kicking and punching several in the face, and then wrestled them into police vans, witnesses said.
Chinese tourists, sightseeing on the square during the Lunar New Year holidays, looked on astonished.
A group spokeswoman in New York said the protesters aimed to "expose the truth about the persecution of Falun Gong in China."
China banned the group as an "evil cult" in 1999, and the Foreign Ministry's Kong said the incident exposed the group's "evil nature."
The detained would be handled according to law and China would deport them as soon as possible, he said but gave no breakdown of their nationalities.
SEEKING ACCESS
Western embassy officials said seven German, five Canadian as well as U.S. and British nationals had been held for involvement in the protests.
Four British members of the movement were deported on Thursday, and officials at other embassies, still seeking access to their nationals, expected others would be expelled on Friday.
"They are still in detention. We think they will be deported later today," said one German diplomat.
It was the second demonstration this week by Western Falun Gong members in Tiananmen. Security on the square was unusually tight, with police checking foreigners' identity papers and searching bags.
China expelled a Canadian and an American follower of the movement Tuesday, a day after they protested in the square.
In November, China expelled 35 foreign Falun Gong members after they protested on the square and another Canadian woman for a Falun Gong protest there last month.
Once frequent protests by Chinese members of Falun Gong have all but dried up in the past year.
Their cause was dealt a blow on the eve of Lunar New Year last year, when five alleged Falun Gong members set themselves ablaze in the square. A 12-year-old girl and her mother died of their injuries.
Falun Gong has denied any involvement.
But the government used graphic footage of the incident in a nationwide media campaign to discredit the group. It has also jailed leaders for subversion and sent thousands to "re-education through labor" camps, according to Falun Gong and rights groups.
Falun Gong says more than 1,600 followers have died as a result of abuse in police custody or detention centers.
The government says only a handful have died and those were from suicide or natural causes. It blames Falun Gong for the deaths of at least 1,900 people through suicide or refusing medical treatment.