BEIJING (Reuters) - China detained seven foreign members of the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement Thursday for protesting in Tiananmen Square over Beijing's campaign against the group it denounces as an evil cult.
Police whisked away the foreigners, at least three of whom were Australian, after they staged a brief protest on the square next to where the National People's Congress, China's parliament, was meeting in central Beijing.
The seven were taken away in a police van in the first known such protest -- but the latest of several in recent months by foreigners who were swiftly expelled from the country -- during the NPC's annual two-week session.
At least three onlookers taking pictures were also taken for questioning at a nearby police station, one witness said.
The demonstrators were detained in a holding room at the police station where they sat in a circle and meditated, he said.
"I heard this one man telling the Chinese police about their rights of protest and expression according to the Chinese constitution," the witness said.
"I saw the banners that belonged to them spread out on a table. They were banners for Falun Gong -- some were purple and yellow."
CALL FOR INTERVENTION
Kati Vereshaka, a spokeswoman in Australia for the Falun Gong which is also known as Falun Dafa, identified three of the detained protesters as her cousin Mihai Molnar and his wife Candice, both 29, and 39-year-old Greg March, all from Melbourne.
Vereshaka said she had asked the Australian Foreign Ministry and the Australian embassy in Beijing to intervene.
"They are now trying to get in contact," she said. "Hopefully they will be released soon because they have done nothing illegal," Vereshaka told Reuters.
"They went there to appeal on behalf of the Chinese Falun Gong practitioners. All they did was unfurl a banner saying Falun Dafa is good in Chinese characters."
An Australian embassy spokesman in Beijing said diplomats had been in contact with the Chinese authorities but had not yet received confirmation that Australian citizens were involved in the protest. "Until we can confirm that they were Australians, we can't take the next steps," he said.
There was no immediate comment on the protest from the Chinese government.
The U.S.-based Falun Dafa Information center said in a statement the protesters had made a peaceful appeal to China to end "state terrorism against Falun Gong."
"We are voicing the hearts of the thousands of practitioners who are illegally detained and tortured in labor camps and mental institutions throughout China to have their freedom restored," it said.
LATEST IN A STRING
China branded Falun Gong an evil cult in 1999 after thousands of followers shocked the government with a mass protest for recognition around the Beijing leadership compound near Tiananmen Square, the center of 1988 pro-democracy demonstrations.
It was the latest in a string of demonstrations by foreign members of Falun Gong, who have taken up the cause as protests by Chinese members dwindled in the face of an intense security and propaganda campaign over the past two years.
China expelled 53 Westerners last month after they unfurled yellow banners and shouted slogans in a protest to highlight China's campaign against the movement ahead of a visit to Beijing by President Bush .
In November, it expelled 35 foreign Falun Gong members after they protested on the square and a 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 celebrations a year ago 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 denied any involvement.
Falun Gong says more than 1,600 followers have died as a result of abuse in police custody or detention center.
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.