A RETIRED Scottish osteopath said last night he was subjected to eight hours of questioning by Chinese authorities before being deported along with three other Britons yesterday ahead of a planned protest in Tiananmen Square, Beijing.
Robert Gibson, 70, was planning to join up with 100 fellow practitioners from the Falun Gong movement from all over the West who were to protest in an effort to highlight the country's record on human rights.
Mr Gibson, from Edinburgh, had been staying at a hostel in the Chinese capital along with Lee Hall, 21, a student at Loughborough University, Earl Rhodes, 36, a BBC cameraman and 42-year-old Rosemary Katzen, 42.
Mr Gibson, who lived near Killin, Perthshire, for 10 years, said: "We came back to the hostel after a day sightseeing on Wednesday and there were about 30 police waiting for us.
"They asked us to leave with them, but they wouldn't tell us where they were taking us so we refused.
"They then dragged Rosemary away and we had to go because we had all resolved to stick together."
The group were taken to a hotel where they underwent eight hours of questioning about their activities.
Mr Gibson added: "They wanted to get more information about the Falun Gong organisation in China, but they don't understand that's it's not an organisation, but a movement."
The group were then taken to Beijing airport and deported yesterday.
Mr Gibson said he planned to continue his protests against the Chinese regime, including picketing their embassy in London every morning with a list of the number of people allegedly tortured to death in the country.
Yesterday, there were further arrests as about 40 Westerners demonstrated in Tiananmen Square. They also face fast-track deportation.
But the four Britons said they were travelling through Beijing as tourists and were not planning a protest.
Falun Gong was banned in China in 1999. The authorities were suspicious of a movement that could boast 80million followers in the country and feared it could overthrow the government.
Since then Western practitioners have flown in for sporadic protests.
They are usually arrested and deported in double quick time.
But the protesters say Chinese prisoners face imprisonment without trial and torture.
"As Western practitioners we go to Tiananmen Square in the hopes that our peaceful appeal will bring an end to the torture and murder of innocent people and help to awaken a society that is being torn apart by lies and deceit," said one protester before leaving for Beijing.
"Falun Gong is not a China issue. Falun Gong is an international issue. We won't stop until the killing stops."
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