CNN: Row grows over HK Falun Gong charges

HONG KONG, China (AP) --Obstruction charges filed against Falun Gong followers -- including four from Switzerland -- show the meditation [group] has become a major nuisance in Hong Kong, a Beijing-allied newspaper said Saturday.

But opposition politicians and rights activists say the move threatens civil liberties that have been a cherished legacy of British colonial rule ever since China regained sovereignty nearly five years ago.

[...]

Protest continues

The Falun Gong followers from Switzerland and some local supporters continued a protest Saturday near the Chinese government liaison office -- just a few steps away from the place where they were arrested Thursday.

The new protest, in which the Falun Gong practitioners are refusing food, is in the spot where police had told them they could demonstrate without trouble.

The Swiss protesters were released on bail Thursday night. The others were released Friday after posting bail.

Falun Gong and some local supporters believe Hong Kong is cracking down under pressure from Chinese President Jiang Zemin's government. [...]

Hong Kong officials deny this, saying they have no intention to interfere with Falun Gong as long as it obeys local laws.

"The police were obviously pressurized by the Chinese liaison office," said the Reverend Fung Chi-wood, a Christian civil rights activist. "No one would believe this is not politically motivated."

The obstruction charges could put 16 Falun Gong followers into jail for up to six months.

http://asia.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/asiapcf/east/03/16/hk.falungong.ap/index.html

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