Telegram & Gazette: Chinese free protesting Clark student

Worcester, Mass.
Thursday, March 28, 2002

WORCESTER-- A Clark University student arrested and detained in China Monday while on a trip to appeal a crackdown on practitioners of Falun Gong, a Chinese form of meditation, flew to Vancouver yesterday.

Diane Pomerleau of Vassalboro, Maine, mother of student Daniel Pomerleau, said she received word from the State Department confirming that her son was on a flight that landed at 4 p.m. He was to continue his return to the East Coast on a flight to Boston, but she did not know when that would be.

The 20-year-old sophomore vanished after he stepped off a plane in Beijing and was arrested. His friends in the United States were notified after the local contact person he was to meet in China called another contact person in Boston to report the young man missing.

"Dan is planning to return to Clark," Mrs. Pomerleau said yesterday. "He's planning to be back March 31, but that's Easter, so he might come home for Easter."

Mrs. Pomerleau said she contacted the office of U.S. Sen. Olympia J. Snowe, R-Maine, seeking help in discovering her son's whereabouts.

Mr. Pomerleau traveled to China on Sunday to protest the government's policy against practitioners. He arrived early Monday morning Eastern Standard Time.

The Chinese government outlawed Falun Gong in 1999, claiming that to practice it is seditious. Thousands of members have been detained in China. Falun Gong supporters abroad claim hundreds of people have been killed in captivity, a charge Beijing denies.

In recent months, dozens of practitioners from abroad have been deported after protesting, including Riordan Galluccio, a spokesman for the Boston Falun Information Center.

Mr. Galluccio conducted a press conference in Boston yesterday to announce that Mr. Pomerleau had vanished. He was skeptical of news that Mr. Pomerleau was safely on a plane home, saying he would wait to see whether it was true.

"What makes Daniel's situation so dangerous," Mr. Galluccio said, "is that he is over there at a time when the president of China has given permission to shoot to kill anyone posting fliers or supporting Falun Gong."

Mrs. Pomerleau, who also is a practitioner of Falun Gong, said her son was introduced to the meditation by another son, Jason, 25.

"It's a spiritual type of practice," she said, "with five standing exercises and one sitting. Its main object is to practice truthfulness, [compassion] and tolerance."

Mr. Pomerleau is also an activist with Amnesty International at Clark, Mr. Galluccio said.

Speaking from her home, about an hour north of Augusta, Mrs. Pomerleau said she feared for her son's safety, but would not try to stop him if he decided to make another trip. It is unlikely he will return to China, she said, because he will probably not be granted a visa.

"You've got to make your own choices in life," she said. "I can't try to run his life and tell him what's in the future."

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