By JOHN LEICESTER, Associated Press Writer

AP Photo Plainclothes agents and a uniformed officer lead away a foreign supporter, center, of the Falun Gong spiritual movement who protested Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2002, in Beijing's Tiananmen Square against China's ban on the group. The woman, who wore a sash marked "Falun Gong" and "SOS" was hustled into a waiting police van and driven away. [...] (AP Photo)

AP Photo Plainclothes agents and a uniformed officer lead away a foreign supporter, center, of the Falun Gong spiritual movement who protested Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2002, in Beijing's Tiananmen Square against China's ban on the group. The woman, who wore a sash marked "Falun Gong" and "SOS" was hustled into a waiting police van and driven away. [...] (AP Photo)

Wednesday January 23

BEIJING (AP) - A Canadian supporter of the Falun Gong spiritual movement protested China's ban on the group Wednesday, and was quickly taken from Tiananmen Square by security agents.

The gray-haired demonstrator wore a sash emblazoned with the words: "Falun Gong" and "SOS." Standing in the huge square while Chinese tourists watched, she sang and held out her arms before a uniformed officer and others in civilian clothes loaded her into a police van.

A Falun Gong practitioner in Canada, Joel Chipkar, said from Toronto that Canada's foreign affairs department confirmed that his mother, Connie Chipkar, 61, had been taken into custody.

Police have detained thousands of Chinese followers on Tiananmen Square since the government outlawed Falun Gong in 1999 as a threat to society and the Communist Party's grip on power.

[...]

http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20020123/wl/china_banned_sect_1.html

Posting date: 1/24/2002
Original article date: 1/24/2002
Category: News & Media Reports

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_____Related Articles_____ Globe and Mail: Canadian arrested in China  [1/24/2002] CBC: Canadian Falun Gong follower arrested in China [1/24/2002] Press Release from Austrian Falun Dafa Association - Austrian Practitioners Appeal for the Safe Return of Connie Chipkar (1/23/2002) [1/24/2002] AP: Canadian Detained in [Group] Protest [1/24/2002] Canadian Mother Arrested on Tiananmen Square; Hearing Scheduled for Tomorrow in Beijing [1/24/2002] AP Worldstream: Police Detain Foreign Falun Gong Supporter on Tiananmen Square [1/24/2002] Statement from Connie Chipkar, Canada [1/23/2002] AP: China Police Detain Female Caucasian Falun Gong Supporter [1/23/2002] Media Advisory (Toronto): Canadian Mother Disappears in China [1/23/2002]