Irish to be expelled after Beijing protest

Irish protesters and more than 30 other Westerners are to be expelled from China after being arrested in Tiananmen Square.

The group were demonstrating in support of the Falun Gong sect.

They were arrested after unfurling a banner and sitting in the lotus position, with their eyes closed and their hands together.

"Purge the evil," some chanted in Chinese, a common Falun Gong invocation.

As hundreds of Chinese looked on in surprise, police moved in on the group, which included members from Australia, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Israel, Sweden, Switzerland, the US as well as Ireland.

Beijing police separated the demonstrators whose arms were interlocked. Group members - both men and women - resisted for a time before they were loaded into vans.

"The relevant departments have given the 35 foreigners who broke Chinese law a warning for disrupting public order and have dealt with them according to the law by ordering them to leave the country by a specified time," state radio reported.

A statement attributed to the protesters and distributed by Falun Gong via e-mail says the protest aimed to draw attention to persecuted Chinese practitioners.

"We appeal today for the benefit of all Chinese citizens, to let them know that Falun Gong is good and that its practitioners are good people from all over the world," the statement reads.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue reiterated China's insistence that Falun Gong is an evil cult that has "hurt many innocent people."