Jorge Barrera
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Jan 25/02) - A 61-year-old woman who visited Yellowknife last August on a cross-country tour in support of the Falun Gong was arrested in Beijing Wednesday.

Connie Chipkar stood in the middle of Tiananmen Square singing and wearing a sash that read "Falun Gong" and "SOS" before Chinese police loaded her into a police van a few minutes later and drove away, reported the Canadian Press yesterday.

Chipkar was in Yellowknife last summer garnering support for the thousands of Falun Gong practitioners who have been persecuted and arrested by the Chinese government over the last few years.

Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is an ancient form of qigong, a spiritual practice based on principles of truthfulness, compassion and tolerance and the refinement of the body and mind through special exercises and meditation. Its modern incarnation dates back to May 1992 in China.

The Chinese government considers it a dangerous criminal cult and outlawed the Research Society of Falun Dafa and the Falun Gong organization in July 1999.

She asked Mayor Gord Van Tighem to sign a petition supporting Falun Gong but he refused. Chipkar managed to get 240 signatures from Yellowknifers before she left.

The Canadian Press wire service said she will be deported.