HONG KONG (AP) - Obstruction charges filed against Falun Gong followers show the meditation sect 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.
"The Falun Gong followers who tout 'truthfulness, benevolence and forbearance,' have many times caused trouble in Hong Kong,'' the paper Wen Wei Po said in full-page coverage of Hong Kong's first legal action against Falun Gong members, who staged a protest outside China's liaison office.
"They have used practicing as a reason to harass people and companies,'' Wen Wei Po said. Falun Gong says its activities here are always peaceful and lawful.
Four 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.
Falun Gong and some local supporters believe Hong Kong is cracking down under pressure from Chinese President Jiang Zemin's government, which has outlawed Falun Gong as an "evil cult'' and is trying to eradicate it.
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 Rev. Fung Chi-wood, a Christian civil rights activist.
"No one would believe this is not politically motivated,'' Fung said. "These guys are not just anyone, so it's obvious that stricter rules are applied to them. If they weren't Falun Gong followers I'm sure they would be more tolerated.'' Opposition lawmaker Cyd Ho said the charges, which could put 16 Falun Gong followers into jail for up to six months, seemed to have been trumped up.
"Any demonstration on the street would cause obstruction, and no demonstration can take place without being an inconvenience to someone,'' Ho said.
"They can't move them just because they are any eyesore to the Chinese liaison office. Even though the police have been acting with restraint, we still have to ask why can't the Falun Gong followers be there?''