BEIJING-- An American and a Canadian follower of
Falun Gong have been detained in Beijing, where they came to protest China's
ban on the meditation sect, supporters abroad said yesterday.
Jason Pomerleau, 25, and Christine Loftus, 22, were detained outside a market
Thursday afternoon, the group said in an e-mail sent to reporters. The
statement was sent along with a photo of two people identified as Pomerleau and
Loftus being taken away by security guards.
Loftus, of Barrie, Ontario, is a student at Brock University in St.
Catherine's, Ontario, the statement said. Pomerleau works at Joslin Diabetes
Center in Boston, according to his family.
They were traveling together in China to “raise awareness among the Chinese
citizens about the ongoing persecution campaign against Falun Gong,” the
statement said.
Pomerleau's family said he failed to check in with them Thursday as planned.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry and Beijing police said they did not know of
anyone by those names being detained.
The Canadian and American Embassies in Beijing said they had no information
about the pair. Canadian Embassy spokeswoman Jennifer May said Loftus' 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.
Loftus' twin brother, Jason, was forced to leave China in February after taking
part in a protest on Tiananmen Square in central Beijing.
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.
China outlawed Falun Gong in 1999, calling it an “evil cult” that leads
followers to their deaths by driving them insane or telling them to refuse
modern medicine
The group claims it seeks only to promote good health and
moral living with its regime of traditional Chinese exercises, meditation and
beliefs based on Taoism, Buddhism and the ideas of its founder, Li Hongzhi.
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.