Free Falun Gong now, followers tell China

Falung Gong members stand by a banner calling on the Chinese government to stop persecuting the sect during a Saturday rally in Hong Kong

January 14, 2001
Web posted at: 5:12 p.m. HKT (0912 GMT)

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In this story:

Hong Kong officials criticized over deportations

Group says it has no political motives

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HONG KONG, China (CNN) - Falun Gong followers at a two-day meeting in Hong Kong called Sunday on Beijing to cease suppression of their outlawed spiritual movement.

The defiant gesture came as hundreds of adherents attended a conference to conclude the gathering of followers from more than 20 countries. "Over 100 of our great Falun members have lost their lives to spread the truth," adherent John Hu told the group.

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"But this won't change our beliefs and determination to practice Falun Gong, and I want to advise those who have treated us wrongly not to do it any more for the sake of their own future," said Hu, a real estate agent from Singapore, inside a crowded concert auditorium in Hong Kong City Hall.

Hong Kong officials criticized over deportations
Falun Gong is demanding the right to practice freely in communist mainland China and an end to the suppression that it claims has resulted in the torture-killings of 120 followers at the hands the mainland authorities.

"There's no human rights in China because you cannot even say a word about Falun Gong in Tiananmen Square," complained Hong Kong practitioner Fiona Ching.

Hong Kong officials were also criticized for detaining or deporting some overseas members of the group. Banned in China, Falun Gong remains legal in Hong Kong because the former British Colony retains local autonomy.

Group says it has no political motives
Yu Shan, from New Jersey in the United States, was one of about a dozen people denied entry. She told CNN: "Hong Kong has started suppressing Falun Gong even though it is legal there."

A pedestrian watches Falung Gong members carrying a banner with the sect's symbol on it in Hong Kong on Saturday

She said she and other detained followers had begun a hunger strike. Yu Shan said that there had been an attempt to deport her on Saturday.

"The police and immigration officer treated me badly and brutally dragged me to the three o'clock flight yesterday," she said.

"But I struggled and insisted not to get on the plane, I insisted for a solicitor. After some conflicts, we missed the flight.

"They now let me stay in a room. I told them I want to take my scheduled flight which is tonight, (it) seems like they would let me do so."

Hong Kong officials say the barred practitioners failed to meet visa requirements and were not detained for their Falun Gong affiliation.

Falun Gong insists it has no political motives, but Beijing has been alarmed by the group's ability to organize huge demonstrations.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.