HONG KONG - The Olympic torch has arrived in Hong Kong after the Chinese territory deported at least seven activists who planned to protest the flame.

The torch returned to Chinese soil Wednesday after a 20-nation relay overseas.

Before the flame came to Hong Kong, authorities deported three pro-Tibet protesters after they arrived at the airport Tuesday.

Four other activists who planned to protest China's human rights record have been turned away since the weekend.

Police say about 3,000 officers will guard the flame Friday when it begins the Hong Kong leg of its relay.

SECOND NEWS


Olympic torch arrives in Hong Kong as rights fears mount

Wednesday • April 30, 2008

The Olympic torch landed in Hong Kong at the start of its journey through China Wednesday, but its arrival has raised fears over freedom of speech as protesters are barred from the city.

The torch arrived in Hong Kong International Airport from Hanoi, just 100 days ahead of the Beijing Games in August, and following its troubled journey around the world.

It will be held in an undisclosed location until Friday, when it will be run through the financial hub and then Macau before snaking its way through the Chinese mainland to the capital Beijing.

The Hong Kong leg will take in the city's spectacular Victoria Harbour and the venues for the summer's equestrian events, which will be held here.

The 120 torchbearers will include acting heartthrob Andy Lau, members of the three wealthiest tycoon families and Hong Kong's only gold medal Olympian, windsurfer Lee Lai-shan.

Friday is expected to provide the last chance for anti-China protesters -- including pro-Tibetan groups -- to target the relay, as it passes from the relatively open former British colony to the more restrictive mainland.

However, a handful of activists have been prevented from entering the city in the past few days, raising concerns that the city's much-cherished freedom of speech laws are being compromised.

"We think it is bizarre that the Hong Kong government are so oversensitive to protect the torch at the expense of people's rights," said Mak Yin-tiny, general secretary of the Hong Kong Journalists' Association after writer Zhang Yu was prevented from entering the territory on Tuesday.

Zhang, general secretary of the writers's group Independent Chinese Pen Centre and a Chinese citizen, was scheduled to address a World Press Freedom Day event that had been planned before the relay schedule was announced, Mak told AFP.

Three pro-Tibet campaigners who were planning events to coincide with the relay were also detained and then flown out of the southern Chinese city on Tuesday, the groups said in statement.

Free Tibet Campaigner Matt Whitticase, along with two members of the Students for a Free Tibet group, had planned to address reporters over major violence that broke out in Lhasa in March, sparking a clampdown by Chinese authorities.

"Denying me entry not only represents a slap in the face for the concept of 'one country, two systems', it also demonstrates yet again that China clearly has much to hide in Tibet," he said.

The relay has been dogged by activists in cities including London and Paris during its journey around the world protesting over China's crackdown in Tibet and its human rights record.

Hong Kong, a wealthy financial centre that was returned to China by colonial power Britain in 1997, has its own more liberal legal and economic arrangements under the 'one country, two systems' agreement brokered before the handover.

The latest deportations come after three people, including a Danish sculptor and rights campaigner, were barred from entering the city on Saturday.

A spokeswoman for Hong Kong's immigration department said she would not comment on individual cases, adding it had "the responsibility to uphold effective immigration control so as to ensure Hong Kong's public interest."

"The department will handle all entry applications in accordance with the law and prevailing policy and having due regard to individual circumstances," the spokeswoman said.

American actress Mia Farrow, who is pushing China to help stop violence in Sudan's conflict-riven Darfur region, is expected to arrive in Hong Kong Thursday before addressing reporters on Friday.

Farrow will give a speech entitled "Darfur and the Olympics" to the Foreign Correspondents' Club here. — AFP