Many western practitioners from North America and Europe went to Tiananmen Square during the Chinese New Year holiday to demand an end to the persecution of Falun Gong. Major media throughout the world have covered the shocking event. Two of these practitioners were Sara Effner from Columbia, Missouri and David Snape from Kansas City. On February 15, about 4 p.m., Sara Effner arrived at the St. Louis Airport by Northwest Airlines.

Sara accepting interviews at St Louis Airport

Petite and soft-spoken Sara accepted an interview with a Columbia TV station after she stepped out of the airplane. She said the reason she went to Beijing was to tell the Chinese people that Falun Gong is good, that it is freely practiced in many countries of the world, and that the Chinese government should not persecute innocent Falun Gong practitioners. She intended to walk onto Tiananmen Square but was stopped at the Jinsui Bridge (connecting Tiananmen and the square) and searched. When police found the banner and camera she was carrying she was arrested and dragged to a waiting police van. Western practitioners that went there that day shouted "Falun Dafa Hao" and got beaten, kicked and swiftly arrested. Sara and 20 other practitioners were taken to a conference room close to the airport and interrogated. After 20 hours of detention, Sara was dragged out of the room and put on a Northwest Airline flight to Detroit. All of her personnel belongings were confiscated by Chinese police.

Twenty-five year old Sara has had a strong interest in Chinese culture from an early age. Before she started practicing Falun Gong she had been to China twice. She said she has a special feeling for the Chinese people. Two years ago when she was first introduced to Falun Gong, she was attracted to it at once. It was something she had been looking for. Before the end of the 9-day seminar, she felt a very strong energy field. She also found suddenly that her chronic fatigue had disappeared.

Sara noticed that the police she saw were all in their twenty's. They had only heard the Jiang regime's slanderous propaganda and did not know that Falun Gong is welcomed in more than 50 countries. The police even denied the fact that thousands upon thousands of Chinese practitioners are suffering from torture and many have lost their lives. They even said it was impossible for police to beat up people on Tiananmen Square. The extent to which the Chinese people have been deceived was very clear. Sara also mentioned a young policeman who fought back tears when he listened to her sing Ru Meng Ling in Chinese.