Reuters: Falun Gong hunger strikers resume HK protest

Sunday, August 26, 2001

HONG KONG - The number of Falun Gong hunger strikers in Hong Kong dwindled from 25 to 10 on Sunday as their protest against the imprisonment of followers in China entered day two.

The 10 remaining had been briefly arrested for obstructing the entrance of Beijing's liaison office on Saturday, marking the first time members of the movement have been arrested in Hong Kong.

"The 10 of us who began the hunger strike (on Saturday) returned to an area near the Chinese Liaison Office...and we are planning to continue our hunger strike into the night," said hunger striker Wang Yaoqing.

"We are all drinking water, but not eating anything."

Academics and human rights activists differed over whether Saturday's arrests signalled the government was taking a tougher line against the group.

The Falun Gong is banned by Beijing and vilified as an "[Jiang Zemin government's slanderous term omitted]" intent on overthrowing the [party's name omitted] Party, but it is still legal in Hong Kong, a former British colony which reverted to Chinese rule in 1997 with the promise of a high degree of autonomy.

Followers in Hong Kong have repeatedly irked China with high-profile protests against the mainland crackdown, and pro-Beijing politicians in the territory are increasingly pushing for an anti-sedition law to control the group.

Police said the Saturday protesters were arrested after they had received several complaints, including one from the building management of the Liaison Office, that they were obstructing traffic.

Police spokesmen said they had been dealt with in the same manner as anyone else.

"As the protesters were not charged, it does not indicate any major change in the policy toward the [group] nor any pre-warning that the government is going to ban the [group]'s activities in (Hong Kong)," the South China Morning Post quoted Li Pang-kwong, a Lingnan University scholar, as saying.

But local Falun Gong leader Ken Hung-cheung told the paper the arrests damaged freedom of expression in the territory, and accused police of bending to political pressure.

Law Yuk-kai, director of Human Rights Monitor, said he was worried police were losing patience with the group.

"It is rare for police to arrest protesters. The arrests mean that police targeted Falun Gong and indicated they have adopted tougher measures against them."

The Falun Gong has said more than 50,000 practitioners have been thrown into prisons, labour camps and mental hospitals around China where they are mentally and physically abused.

Human rights groups estimate some 200 Falun Gong adherents have died from torture while in detention on the mainland. (Reuters News)

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