Thursday, 25-Apr-2002

Story from AFP

HONG KONG, April 25 (AFP) - Hong Kong police Thursday barred the Falun Gong from holding a protest outside the Beijing liaison office for the first time since the spiritual group was banned by China three years ago, members said.

The group, which remains legal in Hong Kong, had planned to hold a protest to mark the third anniversary of a huge demonstration on April 25, 1999 when 10,000 Falun Gong members surrounded the Communist Party headquarters in Beijing.

Ten members had wanted to protest China's treatment of the [...] group outside Beijing's liaison office in the territory, but were told by police they were not allowed to, Falun Gong practitioner Lu told AFP.

"It is not the police who are stopping us, but the pressure from Beijing that make them do it," Lu added.

Hui Yee-han, spokeswoman for the Falun Gong in Hong Kong, later told AFP that "police have been very strict this time," adding the practitioners were not even allowed to read the statement in front of the liaison office.

She said the Falun Gong practitioners were only allowed to read their statement at a police designated site away from the liaison office.

"There are very few pedestrians there. How can we obstruct them?" said Hui, adding the ban was carried out over "political concerns."

A police spokesman said there had been "no untoward incidents. I don't think there is a dispute."

However, the Falun Gong went ahead late Thursday in staging mass meditational exercises in the Central business district to call on Chinese President Jiang Zemin to stop the alleged persecution of practitioners on the mainland.

"The exercise was carried out smoothly," said Hui, adding that their plan to stage the exercise at Chater Garden was changed at the last minute because police were clearing the site of mainland abode seekers who had been staging protests there in past months.

Hui said the mass exercise was held "to reiterate our appeal to the Chinese government in Beijing to release all detained Falun Gong practitioners on the mainland."

Beijing banned the Falun Gong [...] in July 1999, calling it the biggest threat to social stability since the 1989 Tiananmen democracy protests.

Since the ban, rights groups estimate hundreds of Falun Gong followers have been jailed and tens of thousands sent to labour camps.

Although the Falun Gong remains legal in Hong Kong, activists say the government here is coming under increasing pressure to toe Beijing's line.

Hong Kong returned to Chinese rule in 1997 under an accord guaranteeing it 50 years of autonomy from Beijing.

http://www.ptd.net/webnews/wed/bv/Qchina-sect-hongkong.Rmc8_CAP.html