BEIJING, JULY 25: Chinese security forces have rounded up more than 5,000 members of the Falun Gong for ``challenging the Communist Party'' and have identified its leaders, sources familiar with the crackdown said today.But more than half of the quasi-religious sect's members detained in a nationwide sweep last week were expected to be released in 15 days the maximum number police can hold suspects under administrative detention, a government source said.``They would be released once they write a self-criticism and promise to quit,'' said one source close to a school teacher detained in the crackdown.Others could be charged with either disrupting social order or subverting the government, the government source said.If charged and convicted of subverting the government, they could be sentenced to death. If found guilty of disrupting social order, they could be sent to a labour camp for four years of re-education.``They could be charged with subverting the government because they have anorganisation,'' one official source said.China banned Falun Gong on Thursday, saying it was an illegal group that cheated people and threatened social chaos.US-based sect leader Li Hongzhi swiftly proclaimed that Falun Gong posed no threat to the Chinese authorities because it had nothing to do with politics.The ban came a day after thousands of sect members tried to besiege government offices in 30 cities in protest against the arrest of key leaders.Officials have defended the crackdown, saying Falun Gong was a tightly-knit group with 23,000 centres nationwide.Police have identified China-based leaders of the sect as Wang Zhiwen, a retired railways ministry official, and Wang Youqun, a deputy division chief with the ministry of supervision, the official sources said.The two were accused of masterminding a sit-down protest by more than 10,000 sect members outside the Zhongnanhai Leadership Compound in Beijing in April to demand official status for their faith.Premier Zhu Rongji met the pairthat day.Their families could not be reached for comment.Security remained tight around Zhongnanhai and nearby Tiananmen Square - the political heart of China and the scene of student-led pro-democracy protests crushed by the army in 1989 - to prevent a siege by the sect.Authorities have intensified a crackdown on the sect, seizing promotional materials and stopping provincial members from flocking to Beijing by setting up checkpoints on main roads leading to the capital.Provincial authorities were on alert and manning train stations to stop sect members from travelling to Beijing.``They have to present supporting documents to buy train tickets to go to Beijing,'' an official source said.
