Turkish Daily News: HK rejects more China critics on eve of ceremony

Hong Kong turned away scores more members of the Falun Gong spiritual movement who were hoping to join protests against China on the fifth anniversary of Hong Kong's handover from Britain, a member said on Sunday.

Celebrations today marking the anniversary of the July 1, 1997, handover of Hong Kong to China will be muted, a reflection of the falling economic fortunes of the territory of 6.7 million people.

China's President Jiang Zemin was due in Hong Kong later on Sunday to preside over the ceremonies and officials have been barring critics of China, including overseas members of the Falun Gong, from entering.

The Falun Gong is outlawed on mainland China, but is legal in Hong Kong which was promised a high degree of autonomy when it was handed back to China.

But some 90 overseas Falun Gong followers have been turned away at the airport over the last 10 days, 50 of them late on Saturday, said Xie Yueliang, a Falun Gong follower from Taiwan, who was among those refused entry.

Xie said Hong Kong officials herded everyone from her flight into a room when they arrived and checked their passports against a list.

"They checked our passports against a blacklist. It was very long, several pages. At least 50 of us were not allowed in and they just told us Hong Kong did not welcome us," Xie said by telephone.

Three women followers were carried onto an aircraft for their flight back to Taiwan, Xie said.

"Three women who refused to go up the plane were bundled tightly in sackcloths with only their heads exposed. They were carried up on to the plane," Xie said.

"Hong Kong was not supposed to change for 50 years. But it has already changed in five years. I'm very disappointed."

Defiant Falun Gong members staged a few small protests in various parts of Hong Kong on Sunday. As they went through their slow-motion meditative exercises, nearby banners denounced Beijing's crackdown on the group on the mainland.

Hong Kong's security chief Regina Ip denied on Saturday there was any blacklist of group members but said it was necessary to deny entry to potential trouble makers.

Critics in focus

Exiled Chinese activist Harry Wu was denied a visa to Hong Kong last week and American Perry Link, editor of the "Tiananmen Papers", was held briefly and questioned on Wednesday at the airport before he was allowed in.

The "Tiananmen Papers" claims to document how China's leaders ordered a bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in 1989.

Both had been due to attend talks on Hong Kong's freedoms since its return to China.

Hong Kong will celebrate the handover anniversary with a variety show and a fireworks display paid for by a private sponsor, but few people will be in the mood to party.

Hong Kong might still boast one of the world's highest number of Rolls Royces per capita, but it is fighting a biting economic slowdown, rising unemployment and bankruptcies, and a third of families now live below the poverty line.