Chinese authorities accuse the sect of spreading superstition.

Chinese authorities appear to have hacked into a US Website devoted to the outlawed Falun Gong sect as it cracks down on followers, according to reports. The Associated Press news agency says it has traced the case of apparent tampering back to the Public Security Ministry_s Internet Monitoring Bureau in Beijing. Nearly all Falun Gong Websites in China have been shut down since the authorities announced a ban on publications about the sect. But the AP says Beijing is now extending the crackdown to US Websites and elsewhere. Falun Gong practitioner Bob McWee of Maryland said his site, had been under electronic assault - a tactic to overwhelm the computer with repeated requests and block other users. He also said someone tried to gain access to the server, pretending to be a legitimate webmaster, and in the process left an Internet address which AP traced to Beijing. In Britain, Li Shao, of Nottingham, said his Falun Gong site was hacked into last week. He said "Chinese Government propaganda" was placed on some pages, while others were deleted. China banned the meditation group last week, accusing it of trying to develop political power.