AP: Falun Gong Protests in Hong Kong

Saturday January 13 12:43 PM ET

HONG KONG (AP) ?[...] hundreds of Falun Gong followers converged on Mainland China's doorstep Saturday to demand the right to practice freely and an end to the alleged torture killing of adherents. The peaceful demonstration was likely to infuriate China's ruling Communist Party, as Falun Gong took advantage of Hong Kong's free speech guarantees to get as close as possible and spread messages that the mainland leadership views as poison. Marching behind women dressed in white, the traditional Chinese funeral color, Falun Gong adherents went to the local Chinese government liaison office, which was closed. They placed 10 petitions to Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji and the mainland police outside on the sidewalk. ''There are people dying - the numbers are rising,'' said Sophie Xiao, a Hong Kong spokeswoman for Falun Gong, which is outlawed on the mainland. ''In September, it was 50 reported deaths, and now it's 120. It's time to stop all this.'' Falun Gong members from Australia, North America, Europe and Asia planned to meet Sunday at a conference in the Hong Kong City Hall - much to the consternation of pro-Beijing forces who have escalated their war of words against the [group]. Beijing has been alarmed by the organizational abilities of Falun Gong, which attracted millions of followers in China during the 1990s with a mix of meditation, slow-motion exercises and a philosophy drawn from Taoism, Buddhism and the ideas of exiled founder Li Hongzhi. China banned the group as a public menace and threat to party rule. Mainland police are routinely seen rounding up and beating practitioners trying to demonstrate, but it is impossible to verify all Falun Gong claims about abuse and death at the hands of Chinese authorities. Adherents say violence won't deter them - and they insist they have no political motives. ''Regardless of how much they torture practitioners and how much they denigrate Falun Gong and Mr. Li, we will only be compassionate and truthful,'' said Robert Calloway of Atlanta. ''It's going to change the whole world.'' In a local park early Saturday, about 800 Falun Gong followers placed their bodies in formation to make the Chinese characters for ''truthfulness, benevolence and forbearance,'' the slogan many wear on the back of their customary yellow T-shirts. Frustrated by Falun Gong's defiance of the 18-month crackdown, China's government has recently stepped up its rhetoric. The Communist Party has ordered redoubled efforts to expose and attack the outlawed [group]. ''Thoroughly criticize the Falun Gong [slanderous word]'s political nature and threat to society, and the broad masses will increase their resistance to the threat of [slanderous word],'' Propaganda Minister Ding Guangen said in a speech to government propaganda departments, carried Friday in the Communist Party newspaper People's Daily. Falun Gong is legal in Hong Kong, but the group complained that 12 followers were stopped at the airport, including two Australian passport holders, seven residents of Japan and three U.S. residents. Practitioner Pat Wong, from San Francisco, identified one person who did not get in as Li Zhi-wai, also of San Francisco, who Wong believed carries a Chinese passport. Ten followers were being held in the airport late Saturday, according to Falun Gong spokesman Kan Hung-cheung. They resisted and began weeping when authorities tried to cuff their hands, Kan said, adding that he did not know what happened to the other two who were detained. Hong Kong's Immigration Department said late Saturday that 13 people claiming to be Falun Gong followers had been stopped from entering Hong Kong over the past two days, along with 18 other travelers denied entry for various reasons, but that no one had been barred over any Falun Gong activities. ''People are refused entry only because they fail to meet immigration requirements, such as having forged travel documents and adverse immigration records,'' the department said, adding that it would not discuss individual cases. Earlier Saturday, Falun Gong amplified a mobile phone so reporters could hear a woman, identified as Zhang Cui-ying from Sydney, saying she was at the Hong Kong airport and about to be deported. Zhang was jailed previously in China and had hoped to discuss it at the conference Sunday. Falun Gong spokeswoman Hui Yee-han said perhaps that was why she was denied entry. [...] People stopping to watch Falun Gong, however, seemed unconcerned. ''They should be allowed to practice, as this is a basic human right and freedom,'' said Li Sen, a 15-year-old student. ''I can't accept that the police in Mainland China arrest them and beat them.''