STOCKHOLM, Aug 24, 2001 -- (Agence France Presse) A Nordic group of Falun Gong practitioners started Friday a two-day hunger strike outside China's embassy in Stockholm protesting the continuing detention in China of 130 followers even though they have served their sentences, a spokeswoman for the [group] said.

"We are protesting the fact that 130 Falun Gong practitioners are still detained in a Chinese labor camp in Lianoning province even though they have served the time stipulated in their sentences," spokeswoman Zhang Yi said.

"They have been on hunger strike for 22 days protesting their continued detention, and it is in support of this we launch a 48-hour hunger strike outside the Chinese embassy."

At the same time, there will be protests outside the Chinese embassy in Oslo and a consulate in the southern Swedish city of Gothenburg, she said.

China considers [...] Falun Gong [group] an "[Jiang Zemin government's slanderous term omitted]" and the biggest threat to social stability there since the 1989 pro-democracy student demonstrations.

Human rights groups estimate that hundreds of Falun Gong followers have been sentenced to jail terms and tens of thousands sent to labor camps. More than 100 are reported to have died from brutality in police detention.

Last week, 10 Falun Gong members went on hunger strike in front of the Chinese consulate in New York, following similar protests at the Chinese embassies in Washington and London.

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