The China Post: [Mainland Affairs Council] protests 'brutal' treatment of Falun Gong members in HK

2003/2/23

TAIEPI, Taiwan, The China Post staff

The Mainland Affairs Council yesterday protested what it called the "brutal" treatment dozens of Falun Gong members from Taiwan received in Hong Kong as they were denied entry into the former British colony and sent back with six of them being tied up.

"Some of the (ROC) nationals were even tied up and carried onto the plane. We strongly protest the brutal treatment by the Hong Kong government," the council said about the Friday incident at the Hong Kong airport.

The MAC said it has already instructed Taipei's representative office in Hong Kong to lodge a protest, demanding that such an "unfriendly" move never happen again.

It revealed that all of the travelers involved in the incident have returned safely to Taiwan.

Some 30 members of the Falun Gong meditation group were barred from entering Hong Kong, and six of them reportedly were tied up in anti-riot blankets before being put on a Taiwan-bound airliner, the CNA reported.

Yang Kun-mao, a Falun Gong practitioner, told CNA that they went to Hong Kong to participate in a Falun Gong conference on Saturday.

He said he could not understand why they were denied entry into Hong Kong, since the conference was a lawful public activity approved by Hong Kong authorities.

He also couldn't understand why Hong Kong police used brutal force against the six Falun Gong members.

A spokesman for the Taiwan Falun Gong Studying Association revealed at a press conference yesterday that some 80 members of their organization were denied entry into Hong Kong on Friday.

They questioned why they could not enter Hong Kong with valid visas to attend a lawful meeting already approved by Hong Kong authorities.

The Falun Gong meditation group is a lawful organization in Hong Kong, but it is banned in mainland China [...]

The Falun Gong spokesman said the Hong Kong government should not be subservient to the leaders in Beijing and also suppress human rights and freedom of religion in the territory.

This was not the first time that Falun Gong members from Taiwan were denied entry into Hong Kong.

http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/detail.asp?ID=35234&GRP=B

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