BEIJING, Feb 14 (AFP) - Chinese police "brutally" dragged a British female Falungong follower by her hair out of a Beijing hotel room on Thursday during a series of arrests ahead of a protest by the banned group, the organisation said.
A total of 21 Falungong followers, including four Britons and seven Germans, were detained in hotels during raids on Wednesday night and Thursday morning, said Gail Rachlin of the group's New York headquarters.
"A British woman was pulled away brutally by her hair," she said. Rachlin was unable to give more information about the arrests or the identity of the others detained.
Witnesses saw around 25 foreign Falungong followers dragged away on Beijing's Tiananmen Square as they attempted to protest against the Chinese ban on the group Thursday.
The state Xinhua news agency said that more than 40 "overseas" Falungong followers had been detained in total around the vast square.
Falungong was banned as a [slanderous term used by Chinese government] in 1999, and since then the Chinese authorities have waged a brutal crackdown on the group, detaining tens of thousands of adherents, according to human rights groups.
Source:
http://www.ptd.net/webnews/wed/cf/
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