The Toronto Star: Woman recounts arrest in China

As Connie Chipkar trotted around the globe, spreading the word about Falun Dafa, she was encouraged by the warm reception she received.

It was so positive, in fact, that at the end of her five-month European solo trip, she decided to take a detour to China where, she said, the spiritual movement -- also known as Falun Gong -- really needs to make its mark.

But 24 hours after her arrival in Beijing on Tuesday, the 61-year-old Mississauga woman was arrested at Tiananmen Square for wearing a sash proclaiming "Falun Gong," a movement that has been banned in China since 1998.

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Chipkar, who was deported and arrived in Toronto yesterday, insisted at a news conference that her act was not intended to be a publicity stunt to draw media attention to China's human rights abuses of Falun Dafa followers.

"The Chinese president has closed China. No truth can go in and no truth can come out. I felt the only way I could share it with them was to go there myself." She said she was whisked off to a police station, where she was interrogated for more than three hours.

Chipkar said she was never physically assaulted by the Chinese authorities.