Scores of members of the Falun Gong spiritual group, outlawed in mainland China, staged protests in Hong Kong on Tuesday, blaming visiting Chinese President Jiang Zemin personally for a crackdown on the quasi-religious movement. The demonstrations, with Falun Gong members unfurling banners and going through their slow-paced exercises at police-approved locations, set the tone for a host of protests planned during Jiang's two-day visit, which began late on Tuesday morning, to attend a global economic forum.
"Jiang Zemin cannot shirk responsibility for the persecution of Falun Gong," one banner said. It had photographs attached of alleged Falun Gong members persecuted in mainland China.
More than 3,000 police have clamped a security zone around the conference center venue, and an array of groups have taken to the streets to protest against Jiang and Beijing's policies.
The protests are a rare instance of China's communist leaders being challenged on Chinese soil, and could pose one of the most serious challenges to date to Hong Kong's special status within the communist country.
Hong Kong was granted a large degree of autonomy and freedom after Britain returned the former colony to Beijing in mid-1997. It has refrained from outlawing Falun Gong, which Beijing calls a subversive "evil cult."
More than 100 Falun Gong members, dressed in their yellow T-shirts, exercised silently in a Kowloon park, facing Hong Kong island where Jiang will address the conference this evening.
On the island, about 50 Falun Gong members gathered near the Hong Kong racetrack to exercise to music with protest banners flying.
Other groups in the streets on Tuesday lobbied for a range of issues. The largest, about 500, involved families of mainland Chinese fighting for residency in Hong Kong. Another, the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China, called for an end to China's one-party communist rule. Determined not to allow the violent protests that have marred other world economic meetings in recent years, police have worked round the clock to seal off the harborfront venue where some 700 political leaders and business executives will meet.
Human rights groups said immigration officials had barred more than 70 suspected Falun Gong practitioners from entering Hong Kong in recent days to stop them from joining the protests. These included nationals from the United States, Australia and Taiwan -- HONG KONG (Reuters)
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
