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.
The protest Wednesday fell on the first anniversary of a fiery group suicide attempt on the square that Chinese authorities blamed on Falun Gong. Two people died after five set themselves on fire.
Falun Gong founder Li Hongzhi, a former Chinese government clerk, lives in the United States.
The government says Falun Gong is a cult and blames it for more than 1,600 deaths. Falun Gong accuses Chinese authorities of torturing and mistreating detainees. It says 350 followers have been killed by authorities.