Tiananmen dissidents warned, says group

HONG KONG, China (AP) -- Police detained six dissidents in southwestern China ahead of next month's anniversary of the 1989 crackdown on democracy protests, a human rights group said Wednesday.

Hu Mingjun was taken from his home in Chengdu on Tuesday and remains in custody, the Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy reported.

Police searched his home and confiscated property, the Hong Kong-based group reported.

On Monday, police took five people from their homes in Chengdu and nearby Suining, the center said.

They were questioned and warned not to take part in any activities around the time of the anniversary of the June 4, 1989, crackdown on democracy protesters in Beijing's Tiananmen Square, it said.

The five -- Ouyang Yi, Zhou Zhigang, Chen Mingxian, Zhang Ling and Chen Wei -- were released Tuesday, the center said.

At least four of those detained have been associated with the China Democracy Party, which briefly tried to challenge the Chinese Communist Party's monopoly on power three years ago.

Troops launched an assault on the night of June 3, 1989, ending seven weeks of protests in Bejing calling for greater freedoms and an end to official corruption. Hundreds, possibly thousands were killed in the crackdown.

China's government says it was putting down an anti-government rebellion and has never given a full accounting of the event.

The Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy also said police have detained 35 Christians in northern China for worshipping outside the official church, and sentenced 15 of them to labor camps.

The Christians were detained Saturday by police who raided a clandestine service in Dongsheng, a city in the Inner Mongolia region.

A police official contacted by telephone in Dongsheng confirmed the Christians were detained for "illegal religious activity." He said some had been released; he wouldn't give his name or any other details.

China allows only government-controlled religious groups. It has imprisoned and harassed members of the flourishing nondenominational Protestant "house church" movement, so called because worship often takes place in private homes.

Those sent to labor camps include a woman named Wang Yulan, whose offense was considered "more serious" than others, the Information Center said. It didn't elaborate.

The center said her husband was sent to a labor camp last year, and her absence will leave no one to look after their 12-year-old son.