The Standard: Chinese abused us, says Falun Gong protester

After spending more than a day in the custody of Chinese officials, Christine Loftus said she would do it all again in the hope of reaching more Chinese people with the messages of Falun Gong.

"I've read a lot of the experiences in China, but I didn't realize how many people it actually affected and how severe it was until I was there and I saw the faces of all those people," Loftus said in a telephone interview from her parent's Barrie home Saturday.

Loftus, a 22-year-old Brock University student, and her boyfriend Jason Pomerleau, 24, from Boston, were detained by Chinese police Thursday at a Beijing marketplace while distributing information about the Falun Gong, or Falun Dafa, movement.

They were released from custody and arrived in Vancouver Friday.

Loftus arrived in China last Tuesday, but didn't meet up with Pomerleau until the following day. After a day of organization, Loftus and Pomerleau hit the streets of Beijing with leaflets and CD-ROMs preaching the benefits of Falun Gong.

"I wasn't sure how it would go, but people just crowded around," Loftus said. "Everyone wanted a leaflet. A person I talked to said they knew the government was lying to them."

Falun Gong supporters claim the Chinese Communist government is persecuting their Chinese brethren. Many have been arrested over the past few years, and there are stories of torture and executions.

Wrapping up their business in the Beijing marketplace, Loftus and Pomerleau were preparing to move to another location when authorities intervened. They were grabbed while walking to the bus stop.

"About 15 security guards and police officers grabbed us and pulled us behind a building," Loftus said.

As she was being carted away, she shouted out, in Chinese, "Falun Dafa is good." The crowd, she said, was shocked.

Loftus said the police took them to a back room in an underground parking lot.

"From that point on, we went from police station to police station," she said. "They interrogated us a number of times. They would not let us call home to our families to let them know what's going on. They would not let us contact either of our embassies."

She said they were not given food for 20 hours. She said they tried to break her thumb, stepped on her, got her by the back of the head, shook her and threw her into a cell. They'd ask questions and ridicule the answers.

"I was never actually physically beaten, but I was definitely abused," Loftus said. "We just did not know what was going to happen to us. They would never tell us anything. I can't imagine what happens to the Chinese practitioners."

The Falun Gong movement [...] is intended to cultivate truthfulness, compassion and forbearance among its followers.

Loftus and Pomerleau were held for 25 hours. Back home, her family began to worry when she didn't check in at pre-arranged times.

"She had always been good at checking in," said her twin brother, Jason. "We're very happy to have her home."

Christine had planned on staying in China until today. Instead, she is expected to be back at Brock attending classes.

But she said she didn't know she was coming home Friday until about a half hour before they left for the airport.

"They escorted me the whole way," she said, "completely treated me like a criminal. A police officer escorted me right to my seat on the airplane."

Loftus said she felt relieved to be home, but she had mixed feelings.

"I was happy to be home and safe again, but I was very disappointed," she said. "I went there hoping to reach more people than we did.

"I hoped that I would be able to do more before I was detained. I felt like I was just starting."

But she said she has no regrets about making the trek around the world.

"The people I did talk to, it had a good effect on them."