HK rejects China critics on eve of ceremony

China’s President Jiang Zemin was due in Hong Kong 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. Some 90 overseas Falun Gong followers have been turned away at the airport over the past 10 days, said Xie Yueliang, a Falun Gong follower from Taiwan, who was among those refused entry. She said officials herded everyone from her flight into a room when they arrived and checked their passports. ‘‘Three women who refused to go up the plane were bundled in sackcloths with only their heads exposed. They were carried up on to the plane,’’ Xie said.

Falun Gong members staged protests in Hong Kong on Sunday. As they went through their meditative exercises, nearby banners denounced Beijing’s crackdown on the group. Hong Kong’s security chief Regina Ip denied there was any blacklist of group members but said it was necessary to deny entry to potential trouble makers. Exiled Chinese activist Harry Wu was denied a visa last week and American Perry Link, Tiananmen Papers editor, was held and questioned.

(Reuters)