SCMP: [Group] Accuses Convention Centre of Bookings Bias

08/28/2001 [Hong Kong]

Convention and Exhibition Centre management yesterday was accused of labelling a Falun Gong annual meeting "anti-government and anti-China" when followers tried to make a booking.

Falun Gong members accused centre staff of treating them with hostility on August 15 when they tried to discuss a booking for the event early next year.

The group held a meeting at City Hall in January, but was accused of breaching hiring conditions by distributing material about the alleged torture of some followers on the mainland.

A Falun Gong spokeswoman, Hui Cheung Yee-han, said they approached City Hall last month and were told that while they were allowed to join the booking queue, they would be given the lowest priority.

She said they then approached the convention centre, where they held a similar conference in 1998 and 1999. "The manager criticised our meeting in December 1999, saying it was a name-calling, anti-government and anti-China function" she said.

"They also asked when and where we would post advertisements for the event. When we told them that we just put the notices on a Web site, they asked for the address. They didn't ask for such things when we made the bookings for the event in 1999 and 1998."

Mrs Hui said the centre's manager kept saying the group was not being discriminated against. But she felt they were because they were not being treated with basic respect.

A spokesman for the Convention and Exhibition Centre said: "We'll not reveal any information about the inquiries or business discussion with our customers. This is strictly confidential."