March 29 2002

BEIJING (AP-CP) - A Canadian woman and a man from the United States, both followers of the Falun Gong [group], were detained in Beijing, where they went to protest China's ban on the group, supporters abroad said Friday.

Christine Loftus, 22, of Barrie, Ont., a student at Brock University in St. Catharines, Ont., was released and arrived in Vancouver on Friday afternoon, her family said. She was expected in Toronto Friday afternoon.

Loftus and Jason Pomerleau, 25, were detained outside a market Thursday afternoon, Falun Gong said in an e-mail. The statement was sent along with a photo of two people identified as Pomerleau and Loftus being taken away by security guards.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry and Beijing police said they did not know of anyone by those names being detained.

Pomerleau works at Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston, his family said.

The pair were travelling together in China to "raise awareness among the Chinese citizens about the ongoing persecution campaign against Falun Gong," the statement said.

In a letter Loftus wrote to her parents on her flight from Toronto to Vancouver, she said: "I want you to know that I'm only doing this because of the severity of the situation in China. I wouldn't have to do this if the President of China didn't initiate this vicious persecution."

"But I can't just sit around waiting while the lives of millions of people are destroyed. My trip will be effective and I will try to reach as many people as possible."

Both families have said the pair failed to check in with them Thursday as planned.

"Christine is a very gentle person," said her mother, Mary Loftus, a Falun Gong practitioner.

"Seeing a photo of my daughter being seized by police on a Beijing street is frightening... I hope that no harm comes to her and that she returns home safely and quickly."

Loftus's brother has had his own brush with authorities in China. He was forced to leave in February, after taking part in a protest on Tiananmen Square in central Beijing.

"When I was detained, there I was punched, choked, had my hair pulled, my arm twisted and was threatened," he said.

"I know how vicious and how serious it is for her in that situation."

The Canadian and U.S. Embassies in Beijing said they had no information about the pair. Canadian Embassy spokeswoman Jennifer May said Loftus's family has asked diplomats for help and the embassy has requested information from Chinese authorities but "so far, to no avail."

A number of foreign Falun Gong members have been detained in Beijing and deported after staging protests against the ban.

Pomerleau's brother Daniel, 20, was deported Wednesday after being picked up while passing out Falun Gong literature.

Daniel Pomerleau, a student at Clark University in Worcester, Mass., said he was kicked, punched and denied food and water by police.

[...]

Thousands of Falun Gong members have been detained in China and the group claims hundreds have been killed by police. Beijing denies abusing Falun Gong followers.

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