Friday, June 8th 2001

HONG KONG (CP) - Followers of the Falun Gong meditation [group] took to the streets of Hong Kong on Friday, demanding the release of thousands of members jailed in mainland China where the group is banned.

Among those detained is a 35-year-old Montreal computer science student, Ying Zhu, who disappeared last month during a visit to the country to see her ailing parents.

Four others who came from abroad are also missing and believed detained by the authorities.

The protesters, who gathered outside Beijing's government office in Hong Kong, said fellow members in Canada, Australia, Ireland, Japan, Germany and the United States also planned appeals.

The group alleges that members kept in Chinese labour camps and detention centres faced torture, "brainwashing," slave labour and rape.

The Chinese government outlawed the movement in July 1999, deeming it [Chinese government's slanderous terms omitted]. It denies any mistreatment of the thousands of Falun Gong members whom authorities have detained for defying the ban.

Falun Gong members say their beliefs foster good health and morality.

The [group] remains legal in Hong Kong, which enjoys wider freedoms than the mainland. But it has come under the scrutiny of the authorities. Members claim that more than 100 overseas adherents were barred from entering Hong Kong during a global business forum last month.

Passage of a new anti-xx law in France raised fears that Hong Kong's government might use a similar measure to thwart the Falun Gong meditation [group].

Security Chief Regina Ip downplayed such concerns Friday in a speech that underlined the territory's commitment to civil liberties, including freedom of speech, assembly and religion.

"The freedom of thought, conscience and religion is, of course, fully protected in Hong Kong," Ip said.

Falun Gong claims that 200 members have died from mistreatment or persecution in the Chinese campaign to wipe out the [group].