UNITED NATIONS, Aug. 28 (UPI) -- Six members of the Falun Gong spiritual movement will protest outside the U.N. building in New York later Tuesday in support of other followers detained in China.
"After our appeal for saving these lives was rejected by the Chinese Embassy in Washington, we have no option but to carry the appeal to the next level," said a Falun Gong spokesman.
The six are in the 10th day of a hunger strike.
The group will also deliver a letter for U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, detailing alleged atrocities against Falun Gong members in China.
The group will later march to the office of Sen. Charles Schumer, D-New York, to seek his support for the release of New York resident Dr. Chunyan Teng, now in her second year of detention in China.
The Falun Gong members will then deliver the same letter to Sen. Hillary Clinton's office.
In a separate statement, the group claimed that a Falun Gong family from France has been missing in China since Aug. 7, when they were seized by Chinese security agents.
Chi Jian, a doctoral student in economics from Grenoble, France, his wife Sun Fenglong, and their daughter, Chia Yifan, were visiting Mongolia to spend time with relatives.
Faculty and students at the Second University of the City of Grenoble, where Chi is pursing a Ph.D. in economics, have launched a campaign to lobby for the family's release. Falun Gong has been labeled by Beijing as an "evil cult" but it is legal in Hong Kong.