|
|
 |
Home - Yahoo! - Help
|
 |
| Home | | | Singapore | | | Asia | | | World | | | Business | | | Technology | | | Sport | | | Entertainment | | | Newspapers |
|
|
Follows a list of key events in a year which has seen the banned Falungong spiritual movement branded the biggest threat to China's communist regime since the 1989 democracy protests.
April 25, 1999: More than 10,000 followers of the Buddhist-inspired sect sat down around the Chinese Communist Party headquarters in Beijing for an entire day, demanding the right to practise their meditation and breathing exercises and protesting police maltreatment.
It was the largest demonstration in the capital since 1989, when democracy protestors were massacred on Tiananmen Square.
April 27: The authorities say they are prepared to listen to Falungong grievances but warn of strict measures against any attempt to destabilise society.
May 3: Li Hongzhi, the sect's US-based guru, calls on Beijing to start dialogue with the movement which claims it has 80 million followers in China (2 million according to the authorities).
June 6: The first questioning of over 100 followers protesting in Beijing.
July 20-22: Thousands of followers rounded up throughout the country. By the end of the year at least 35,000 followers had been arrested, according to official statistics.
July 22: Falungong is formally declared an "illegal organisation." The move coincides with the launch of a media campaign accusing the movement of causing 1,500 deaths.
July 27: US State Department calls on Beijing to exercise restraint.
July 28: China issued an international arrest warrant against Li Hongzhi, accusing him of seeking to overturn the regime. Interpol refused to help with the warrant.
Oct 7: First case of Falungong follower dying in police custody announcement by group
Oct 21: 11 senior figures in the movement arrested.
Oct 25-Nov 1: A week of protests in Tiananmen square in Beijing as parliament adopts law officially branding Falungong as an "evil cult."
Nov 12: First Falungong "show trials" end with four followers sentenced to between 2 and 12 years prison. Hundreds of others sent to "reeducation through labour" camps for three years.
Dec 26: Four senior figures in the group sentenced to prison terms of 7 to 18 years.
Feb 5, 2000: Dozens of followers protested in Tiananmen Square during the Chinese New Year.
Feb/March: Deaths in custody of 15 members disclosed. Several detained members stage hunger strike.
April 19: The official Xinhua news agency reports that a total of 84 Falungong supporters have been given prison terms.
| Home | | | Singapore | | | Asia | | | World | | | Business | | | Technology | | | Sport | | | Entertainment | | | Newspapers |
Questions or
Comments
Copyright © 2000 AFP. All rights reserved. All information
displayed in this section (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by
intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence you
may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way
commercially exploit any of the contents of this section without the prior
written consent of Agence France-Presses.
Copyright © 1994-2000
Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved.