Mrs. Connie Chipkar, a 61-year-old Canadian citizen of Austrian descent disappeared in Beijing today, following an appeal for Falun Gong on Tiananmen Square.

She went to China to express her deep concern about the increased persecution and murder of [Chinese] Falun Gong practitioners and to appeal to the hearts of the Chinese citizens. Prior to that she participated in European in the world-wide efforts to "SOS: Rescue the persecuted Falun Gong practitioners in China." The last two months before her trip to China she had spent in Vienna, where many Austrian practitioners had met and had forged friendships with her.

Her son, Joel Chipkar, who was one of the 36 Falun Dafa practitioners from ten different countries who also had gone to Tiananmen Square last November, had held up a banner reading "Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance," the universal principles of Dafa, is planning to hold a press conference at 1:00 p.m. today Canadian time in Toronto to appeal for the safe return of his mother.

As many other people around the western world had done, Mrs. Chipkar's aim was to somehow help the Chinese Falun Gong practitioners. Last September the beginning of that goal was realized by her involvement with the "SOS-March." For more than the past four months she had been traveling from Northern Canada to Southern Europe, to inform people about the dramatic Falun Gong situation and the practitioners' dilemma in China. Her journey took her to 14 countries and 30 cities. While in Vienna, she handed appeals letters to personnel in the Austrian Chancellery, to representatives from the Foreign Ministry, staff from the Lord Mayor of Vienna's office and other entities and was received cordially everywhere.

The last stop on her "SOS March" was to be Beijing. A statement, which Mrs. Chipkar penned before her China trip, reads as follows:

"I appeal to the Chinese citizens. How can you let your beautiful, ancient culture be exterminated? How can you let your hearts be destroyed? What evil will your children suffer if "Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance" are exterminated and forbidden from their little hearts? Will you leave them with nothing? I know Falun Dafa is good. I have practiced it for over four years now.

We are not on this earth for man to torture other men. It must be stopped. Let everyone know we Canadians support good, peaceful people. I join my fellow practitioners to stand up to protect "Zhen, Shan and Ren," not only for Falun Gong practitioners in China but for everyone in the whole wide world."

State-sanctioned domestic terrorism in China has recently seen further alarming developments. In the past few months alone, 26 deaths of practitioners were publicized. They occurred while these individuals were in police custody and were due to torture or outright murder. This has increased the number of victims to 350, but the real number may be as high as 1,600, as has been garnered from several independent reports. Those incidents are the reason for worldwide, peaceful candlelight vigils in front of Chinese embassies and consulates.

Last Wednesday, Mrs. Chipkar participated in such a vigil in Vienna in front of the Chinese consulate. Today, between 6:00 P.M. and 8:00 P.M. Viennese Falun Gong practitioners will once again meet for a candlelight vigil in front of the Chinese embassy to demand an end to this senseless persecution of innocent people and also to appeal for a safe return of Connie Chipkar.

Connie Chipkar in front of the Chinese Consulate in Vienna on January 16^th, 2002;

Connie Chipkar during her SOS Truth Walk -- Sarajevo, end of December, 2001

Connie Chipkar wearing her "SOS Falun Dafa Truth Walk" sash, January 19^th, 2002;

(Original text in German)