But most of the scattered protests Saturday involved individuals or small groups unfurling banners or sitting down in the square cross-legged in the lotus posture. About 100 people were rounded up during the morning, the most popular time for the group to protest. The largest group involved about 25 people who successfully blocked police from immediately seizing their banner. Police eventually broke up the protesters. Founded eight years ago, Falun Gong attracted millions of followers, drawn by its blend of slow-motion exercises and ideas drawn from Buddhism, Taoism and the group's exiled leader, Li Hongzhi, a former government grain clerk.
Followers say practice promotes health, moral living and, in experts, supernatural powers.
But the government has called Falun Gong an unprecedented threat to communist rule. It has accused Falun Gong of cheating followers and causing 1,500 deaths, mostly of followers who it said refused medical treatment according to what it claims are the group's teachings. Equipped with binoculars and walkie-talkies, legions of police patrolling Tiananmen Square often swoop down on protesters seconds after they whip out a banner or begin meditating. Within minutes, protesters are stuffed into police vans stationed on the margins of the square. Blistering hot weather made the job difficult for the police Saturday because their views were obstructed by hundreds of visitors carrying umbrellas, which Chinese use to block the sun.