BEIJING (AP) -- Stung by five days of defiant displays by a banned spiritual movement, China's communist government displayed rougher tactics Friday in its campaign to stamp out the Falun Gong, hauling away at least 50 followers.

As teams of police rushed to round up Falun Gong members, a few college-age followers abandoned four days of quiet vigils and daringly unveiled a petition in Tiananmen Square asking Chinese leaders for tolerance.

The protest was fleeting. Police twisted one youth's arm, crumpling him, and dragged another by the hair into a clutch of officers. A third was tackled while trying to flee.

The detentions Friday added to the 3,000 people a Communist Party source said have been detained in Beijing this week.

The harsh tactics were part of a campaign of police sweeps and new anti-cult regulations aimed at vanquishing the movement, the party source said on condition of anonymity.

The new measures underscore the Communist Party's growing frustration with rank-and-file Falun Gong believers and the party's slipping hold on Chinese society.

The struggle, at heart, is a battle for the loyalty of China's people. Chinese leaders began moving against the widely popular group after 10,000 members staged a surprise, highly organized protest outside party headquarters April 25. Organizers taken to meet Premier Zhu Rongji insisted they, not the Communists, held the answer to China's social ills.

Protesters taken from the square this week told police and party officials they only want China's leaders to understand Falun Gong and the benefits its meditation exercises and philosophy bring to health and morality, the party source said.

``One suggested: 'Tell President Jiang (Zemin) to try it for three months. If his health improves, the central authorities should rescind the ban. If not, let it stand,''' the source said.

Yang Chunguang, a 28-year-old clothes merchant from the northeastern industrial city of Changchun, has slipped in and out of Tiananmen Square this week, spending the night in safe houses in and around Beijing.

``We are waiting for a fair airing of our views by the government,'' he said.

Others who have traveled to the capital have slept at construction sites or other places in the increasingly cold late autumn weather.

``We've been forced to sleep on the streets, under bridges, along avenues, passageways, with the possibility of arrest at any time,'' said Qu Dehong. He, his wife and 11-year-old son, practitioners all, left their home in Jidong county in the far northeast for Beijing nearly six weeks ago.

To stop the influx, police have searched Beijing and watch airports and railroad and bus stations in other major cities. Provincial governments have sent police vans to Tiananmen Square so that captured followers can be taken to detention centers in their home provinces, witnesses and the party source said.

Police threatened homeowners found renting rooms to group members, state-run Beijing Television reported Friday. Footage showed three groups of followers being led away.

Outside United Nations headquarters in New York, about 100 Falun Gong demonstrators called on U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to intervene and defend the group's rights. They also said they had reports that Chinese authorities were torturing Falun Gong members arrested in China and called for talks with the government.

Already this week, the party's flagship newspaper, People's Daily, officially branded Falun Gong an ``evil cult,'' replacing its former designation as an illegal group. Legislators reviewed a new law, expected to be adopted Sunday, lengthening prison terms for members of Falun Gong and other groups deemed cults.

That law was specifically drafted to hand out heftier punishments to group leaders, the party source said. The source said that in the coming weeks authorities planned to give judges and prosecutors guidance for applying the new law and will instruct police and investigators to widen the crackdown against followers who refuse to recant. Up to 50 principal members of the group also were expected to go on trial.

But by remaining at large and defying the police threat with continued protests, Falun Gong members have shown a resilience and a flair for secretive organization. With mobile phones, pagers and the Internet, they have kept in touch with each other and devotees in the United States, Australia and other countries.

``As followers of the Great Way of Falun we are obligated to stand up and tell the leaders how good our Great Way is,'' Yang said. ``If they can accept it or not, that's their problem.''