Adherents of the Falungong spiritual movement, which is banned in China, plan to follow Chinese President Jiang Zemin's every move during his ongoing tour of the United States, they said.
Members of the group, some of them bleary-eyed after late protests in Chicago where Jiang arrived the day before, got on early flights to Houston, Texas, the next stop on the president's US itinerary.
"We're 20 from Switzerland going from Chicago to Houston," said Aleardo Manieri, waiting for his checked-in luggage in Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport. "More will be arriving on other planes."
Jiang has a busy schedule in Texas, and Falungong adherents want him to be constantly reminded of the rough treatment followers of the movement get inside China.
Jiang will attend a banquet hosted by Houston Mayor Lee Brown later Wednesday and will deliver a speech at Texas A and M University Thursday.
On Friday, he will meet US President George W. Bush for a one-hour summit at the US leader's ranch in Crawford, Texas, before heading to a meeting of Asia-Pacific economies in Los Cabos, Mexico.
"We plan to rent cars to go to Crawford to protest," said Magdalena Savic, a Swedish follower of the movement. "After that, some of us will continue to Mexico."
Jiang, 76, hopes his fourth visit to the United States as head of state will become a triumphant show of stable Sino-US ties before his retirement, which is expected soon, but demonstrations have so far marred his trip.
Falungong supporters were standing in silent protest across from Houston's Inter-Continental Hotel, as the Chinese president's motorcade arrived from Ellington Field Airport at noon.
Many of them were holding banners with messages such as "Falungong Practitioners Tortured to Death," reflecting the group's claim that hundreds of followers have died while in Chinese detention.
When Jiang arrived in Chicago Tuesday on the first leg of his tour, hundreds of pro-Falungong and pro-Tibetan demonstrators lined up outside his hotel, some in silent vigil, others loudly voicing their protests.
According to reports, China's three-year-old crackdown on the Falungong, branded as an "evil cult" that drives its members to suicide, is to a large extent a personal vendetta for Jiang.
Even so, the protesters said their actions could help the situation for adherents in China, rather than worsen it, because of the media attention they would get.
"Maybe people in China will see it and understand that the president is lying to them," said Savic, the Swedish adherent who plans to go to Crawford.
The protests planned to accompany Jiang during his visit to the United States have run into a series of logistical hassles.
Adherents said one hotel in Houston had canceled reservations by group members, and suspected Chinese authorities were to blame.
"It's because the Chinese consulate there is quite active," said Lilly Wang, an ethnic Chinese supporter who now lives in Sweden. "They've spread rumors that we're dangerous."
It has also been a problem for the Falungong protesters to find out exactly where to be when, as Jiang's itinerary has only been made public in a gradual, haphazard manner.
"There are constant changes," said Richard Kleinert, a Swiss adherent. "We have to be very flexible."
Meanwhile, Falungong has opened a new front in the battle to get its message across.
Falungong representatives said Wednesday lawyers for the spiritual movement had filed a civil suit against Jiang seeking damages for atrocities committed against the group's adherents in China.
The class action suit, filed October 18, seeks unspecified punitive and compensatory damages for the "widespread torture and genocide" of thousands of Chinese adherents of the movement.