THE Falun Gong spiritual group has won permission to use a government venue - City Hall - for an international convention.

The permission, which comes despite Beijing's ban on the [group] and contrasts markedly with Macau's tough approach, has been granted by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, [group] leaders said yesterday.

About 1,000 adherents are expected to attend the convention in the City Hall concert hall on January 14.

The move was welcomed by pro-democracy and pro-Beijing politicians. But both the Chief Executive's Office and Beijing's Foreign Ministry office refused to comment.

The Associated Press news agency quoted June Tong, principal marketing coordinator of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, as saying its venues were ``open to any associations, communities and societies registered under the laws of Hong Kong government. You are eligible to hold any activities as long as it is lawful and related to the purpose of our venues''. She could not be reached for comment last night.

Falun Gong is legal in Hong Kong.

The group's Hong Kong spokesman, Kan Hung-cheung, said he expected the meeting might attract up to 1,000 participants from throughout Asia and as far as away as Australia, Europe and the United States.

He said it would be the first such meeting held at a government venue, although Falun Gong has previously displayed pictures outside a local cultural centre showing alleged abuses by mainland authorities, and has practised and protested publicly here.

Politicians said the decision illustrated implementation of the ``one country, two systems'' principle.

``The more rational the government's attitude in dealing with the application, the more peaceful an attitude the Falun Gong members will adopt while in their activities,'' said Democratic Party legislator Cheung Man-kwong. ``And at the end of the day, Beijing leaders will come to believe Falun Gong is just a religion.''

Frontier lawmaker Cyd Ho Sau-lan said the Macau SAR Government - which arrested local and foreign members of the group during President Jiang Zemin's visit last month - should follow Hong Kong's example.

Chan Kam-lam, of the pro-Beijing Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong, agreed with the department's decision but said he hoped Falun Gong members would be peaceful and law-abiding.

National People's Congress deputy Ma Lik said, however, that the government should review its policy towards the [group] if members adopted a provocative attitude, to prevent them from ``using Hong Kong as a base to subvert the Central Government''.

On December 19, Macau police used force to round up several Falun Gong members during celebration of the SAR's first anniversary, and barred Hong Kong [group] members from visiting.

5 January 2001 / 01:39 AM

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