-Caveat Lector- China orders arrest of Falun Gong leader, destroys books July 29, 1999 Web posted at: 1:55 p.m. EDT (1755 GMT) From staff and wire reports BEIJING (CNN) -- Chinese authorities on Thursday ordered the arrest of the leader of the popular Falun Gong meditation group, which the government banned last week as a threat to political and social stability. The order came amid a government campaign to destroy Falun Gong books and materials. State media said Thursday that hundreds of thousands of items had been destroyed. Chinese leaders regard the group, which has up to 70 million members, as the most serious threat to communist rule since pro-democracy protests in 1989. The Ministry of Public Security in Beijing said sect founder Li Hongzhi "spread superstition and malicious fallacies to deceive people, resulting in the deaths of many practitioners," the official Xinhua News Agency said. The ministry sent a notice to Interpol requesting aid in investigations, and has asked public security departments and border posts to find and arrest Li, the agency said. Li Hongzhi, founder of the Chinese spiritual movement Falun Gong Li lives in New York. The former Chinese government clerk founded Falun Gong in 1992. He has denied accusations by the government that his group has political ambitions. Sect members have expressed fears that China might try to extradite Li, but U.S. officials have said they have no plans to extradite him. "We are very concerned for master Li's personal safety," read a Falun Gong statement issued in New York Thursday. "What will China do next?" More than 1.5 million publications seized Chinese authorities said that, since last week, they had confiscated or destroyed more than 1.55 million publications of the mystical sect. Falun Gong is one of many schools of qigong, a practice that tries to improve health through exercise, mediation and attempts to channel unseen forces. Its doctrines draw on martial arts, Buddhism and Taoism. Qigong has been popular in China for decades. The crackdown appears to have been prompted by a silent protest April 25 by more than 10,000 Falun Gong devotees outside the Beijing compound where President Jiang Zemin lives. The group said it was protesting harassment by officials. The ministry said Li organized gatherings and demonstrations without appropriate permits and was "suspected of having committed the crime of disturbing public order," Xinhua reported. Li has said he had no connection with the sect protesters in China. "It's been seven years since I practiced it in public," he said of Falun Gong in a CNN interview Saturday. Reports in state media have blamed Falun Gong for more than 700 deaths, saying followers refused medication or committed murder or suicide. "They fabricate a lot of stories," Falun Gong U.S. spokesman Zhang Erping said on CNN Thursday. Zhang said that the Chinese government, as part of a crackdown against Falun Gong members, had sent tens of thousands of people to stadiums without food, drink or restroom facilities. Tapes of the banned sect are destroyed by a bulldozer displaying a banner "Crush Falun Gong Publications" in the city of Shijiazhuang "We are appealing to the United States as a world leader in human rights ... to urge the Chinese government from using force against its people," he said. "We are not opposing the government. We are only asking the government to leave us alone," Zhang said. The 'enemy of ... civilization' In Beijing, some 300,000 Falun Gong books were turned into pulp Wednesday, and more were to be destroyed throughout China, state media said. In Shanghai, authorities fed 45,000 books into a pulping machine Thursday at a ceremony led by city propaganda chief Jin Binghua, the newspaper Xinmin Evening News said. State officials and media outlets have kept up a steady stream of attacks on Falun Gong. "Falun Gong literature is the enemy of science, civilization, atheism and dialectical materialism," said Gui Xiofeng, director of the National Anti- Pornography Office, which removes materials deemed offensive to the Communist Party. On television, former members are shown denouncing Li, and newspapers quote officials criticizing its doctrines. National TV newscasts have been expanded to a full hour from their usual 30 minutes and are devoted almost completely to attacks on the sect. Communist Party members, thousands of whom openly practiced Falun Gong before the crackdown, have been ordered to quit or be expelled from the party. Beijing Bureau Chief Rebecca MacKinnon, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Steve Wingate California Director SKYWATCH INTERNATIONAL Anomalous Images and UFO Files http://www.anomalous-images.com DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance—not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. 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