ááááááááááá A Brock University student has returned safely to Canada after apparently being arrested in Beijing for protesting the Chinese ban on the Falun Gong meditation [group].
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ááááááááááá Christine Loftus and her American boyfriend Jason Pomerleau were seized by Chinese officers Thursday outside a marketplace, a New York-based organization of Falun Gong supporters said.
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ááááááááááá Loftus's family received word late Friday she had arrived in Vancouver and was en route to Ontario.
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ááááááááááá Loftus, 22, and Pomerleau, 25, of Boston, had traveled to Beijing to raise awareness about the government's crackdown on Falun Gong, a practice of meditation and exercise with roots in traditional Chinese culture.
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ááááááááááá In July 1999, the [Jiang Zemin's regime] outlawed the practice. Supporters say thousands of Falun Gong followers have been detained and hundreds killed.[...] Fifteen Chinese police officers hauled Loftus and Pomerleau from a busy Beijing street, said the Falun Dafa Information Center.
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ááááááááááá Family members began to worry when they had not heard from Loftus, a second-year child and youth studies major at Brock. They then came across information about the arrest on the internet.
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ááááááááááá "It is difficult," her mother Mary said earlier Friday from Barrie. "I'm very anxious to hear that she's OK."
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ááááááááááá In Ottawa, Foreign Affairs spokesman Reynald Doiron said inquiries by Canadian officials in Beijing had yielded no information from Chinese authorities about Loftus, who arrived in China this week.
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ááááááááááá Loftus and Pomerleau, who met at a 1999 Falun Gong conference in Toronto, were also distributing pamphlets about the practice and the Chinese government's response.
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ááááááááááá In an article for the Brock Press student newspaper, Loftus wrote that despite pressure from [Jiang Zemin's regime], Chinese practitioners of Falun Gong maintained their belief in the practice. "Through their own experiences, they have come to understand how precious and true these principles are to their lives."
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Category: Falun Dafa in the Media
