(12 Dec 1999) English/Nat
Despite a stern warning from Hong Kong's leader and a Beijing-appointed official, nearly a thousand members of the Falun Gong sect held a conference on Sunday defending their group against suppression on the mainland.
Hong Kong devotees joined forces with others from mainland China, Japan, Taiwan, Australia, Canada and Western Europe for a peaceful demonstration, in an attempt to appeal to the Chinese government for greater understanding.
Hong Kong is the only place in China where the sect is allowed to organise meetings and practice publicly.
Many among the roughly one thousand Falun Gong members at Sunday's event were in tears, expressing disbelief that Beijing would clamp down so harshly on a spiritual movement that they say helps them lead better lives.
Falun Gong blends slow-motion meditation exercises and ideas from Taoism, Buddhism and Falun Gong's founder Li Hongzhi, who now lives in the United States.
Practitioners say Falun Gong promotes health and good citizenship.
The government, however, banned the meditation and exercise group in July, claiming it posed a threat to Communist Party rule.
Hong Kong Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa warned members of the sect in Hong Kong to behave.
In a statement released late Saturday, he said "the organizers and participants must not act in any manner which are against the interests of China or Hong Kong."
The South China Morning Post reported Jiang Enzhu, the director of China's state-run Xinhua News Agency in Hong Kong, also warning the sect's members against using Hong Kong "as a base to infiltrate the mainland."
The warnings came as a surprise to many in the territory - where religious freedom and civic liberties are generally upheld.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"We hope the government will initiate, start a dialogue with Master Li as soon as possible in order to solve, resolve, the current crisis in China - we don't want to see the practitioners in China to continue to suffer like this"
SUPER CAPTION: Belinda Pang Hong Kong Falun Gong organiser
Police have rounded up hundreds if not thousands of the sect's members in China.
Membership of the sect has dwindled in Hong Kong since the crackdown earlier this year on the mainland, and practitioners fear that Beijing's control will prevail.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"I think we're not political at all, because we not involved in any political activities, but what we're here to do, we practice Falun Dafa to learn to be good people, to gain health, to improve ourselves, but the basis of this right now in China is that all the practitioners, they don't have their freedom, the basic human rights, that offer them freedom of expression, freedom of belief, they are being taken away, that's not a political issue at all, it's a human rights issue"
SUPER CAPTION: Belinda Pang Hong Kong Falun Gong organiser
On Saturday members of the sect left an open letter for Chinese President Jiang Zemin on the doorstep of China's
state-run Xinhua News Agency office in Hong Kong.
Nearly 600 members from 15 countries attended the quiet rally surrounding the delivery of the letter.
The letter urged an open dialogue with Chinese leaders to clear up any misunderstandings they may have about the sect.
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