China expels Western protesters

BEIJING -- China swiftly expelled 35 Westerners, including six Americans, who had demonstrated against the government's crushing of the Falun Gong spiritual movement, the official Xinhua News Agency said Wednesday.

The Westerners had all left China by Wednesday evening, Xinhua said. They had protested Tuesday by sitting cross-legged, chanting and unveiling a banner on Beijing's Tiananmen Square. Police quickly took them away.

Xinhua said the protesters were treated with "humanitarian concern" -- contradicting Falun Gong claims that some were slapped and kicked. Police told the protesters they broke laws on protest, assembly and cults, Xinhua said. China's communist government views Falun Gong as a cult.

It was the first Falun Gong demonstration on Tiananmen Square to involve Westerners exclusively. The square is China's symbolic heart and has been a frequent venue for protests by Chinese Falun Gong members since China's government banned the group in July 1999.

The demonstrators included four Australians, eight Germans, seven Swedes, three Swiss, as well as Canadian, French, Irish, Israeli, Finn, British and Spanish citizens, according to diplomats, governments and media reports. The U.S. Embassy in Beijing confirmed that the six Americans had left by Wednesday evening. It did not give their names.

The demonstrators said they wanted to publicize the plight of Chinese Falun Gong followers.