Beijing ? Supporters of the outlawed Falun Gong movement hacked into China’s top TV satellite system, beaming flashes of their own material across the vast land during programming aimed at millions of rural Chinese, the government said Tuesday.

In a full-throttle condemnation Tuesday night on its national newscast and through its official news agency, the government blamed a pirated broadcast operation from Taiwan for the “TV hijacking” and demanded authorities on the island track down and punish the culprits.

“Why do some Falun Gong die-hards dare to blemish modern civilization in such a barefaced manner?” the Xinhua News Agency said.

Xinhua said the commandeering of a signal from Sino Satellite, or Sinosat, began Sept. 9 and affected signals of a service designed to enable remote villages to see broadcasts from China Central Television, or CCTV, the leading government-run network.

The hacking also interrupted transmission of the China Education TV Station and some provincial-level TV stations, Xinhua said.

Broadcasts promoting Falun Gong flashed for some moments on five TV channels, broadcast officials said, and service interruptions continued for more than an hour. It was unclear if the interruptions were caused by Falun Gong itself or by attempts to block its broadcasts.

Falun Gong has made a practice of hacking into local TV feeds and broadcasts, often broadcasting pirate transmissions to tout the benefits of the group and persuade the citizenry that Chinese authorities have treated it unfairly.

The television break-ins have embarrassed the government, which calls the protest videos “reactionary propaganda” and says they threaten social stability. It considers Falun Gong and its supporters a threat to communist rule.