Falun Gong followers mark 10th anniversary by marching, meditating in Hong Kong

By Associated Press, 5/13/2002

HONG KONG (AP) Falun Gong followers in Hong Kong celebrated the 10th anniversary of their spiritual movement on Monday with marches, meditation and demands that Beijing stop suppressing practitioners in mainland China.

"We cause no harm," said Lam Chau-ping, a 35-year-old housewife who joined 200 Falun Gong members in a demonstration near the territory's scenic Victoria Harbor. "Beijing's crackdown is completely unreasonable."

They used their bodies to form three Chinese characters meaning "Falun Gong is good."

[...]

Beijing has outlawed Falun Gong [...], and Falun Gong says hundreds of followers have died in a brutal police crackdown.

Falun Gong remains legal in Hong Kong, which retains Western-style civil liberties that are a holdover from British colonial days, and its followers frequently protest here.

The Hong Kong government has tolerated most Falun Gong activities but recently arrested 16 people, including four Swiss practitioners, for alleged obstruction when they protested outside the Chinese government's liaison office in Hong Kong in March. [...]