Dozens of Falun Gong followers on Sunday protested the visit of China's culture minister, denouncing his alleged role in Beijing's crackdown on the spiritual movement in the mainland.
Five Falun Gong practitioners stood by the entrance to the Government House complex, holding aloft a banner that said "strongly protest against Minister of Culture Sun Jiazheng for instigating hatred in persecuting Falun Gong," protest spokeswoman Lu Jie told The Associated Press by phone.
About 40 others meditated by the back entrance of the grounds, Lu said.
Sun was due at Government House to attend an international conference on cultural cooperation.
Lu said some of the protesters had earlier marched from a downtown park. Police spokeswoman Carrie So confirmed the peaceful march but had no details of the protest outside Government House, the former governor's mansion during Hong Kong's British rule now used for official functions.
Sun oversees the Internet surveillance of Falun Gong communications that has led to the jailing and torture in China of the group's followers who have downloaded or sent materials about their cause electronically, Falun Gong alleged in a statement.
An operator at China's liaison office in Hong Kong said no one was available for comment.
Falun Gong is banned in China as an "evil cult" but allowed to practice freely in Hong Kong, a former British colony that returned to Chinese rule with guarantees of Western-style civil liberties.
Falun Gong alleges that at least 1,110 have been killed in China's persecution of its mainland followers since it began in 1999.