People perform a Falun Gong meditation exercise on the steps of the state Capitol in St. Paul, Minn., Monday, May 13, 2002. The exercises were held as part of the 10th anniversary of the meditation [group]'s founding in China. (AP Photo/Eric Miller)

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May 13, 2002

HONG KONG (AP)--Falun Gong followers celebrated the 10th anniversary of their spiritual movement by marching and meditating in Hong Kong on Monday, with some demanding that Beijing stop suppressing practitioners in China.

"We cause no harm," said Lam Chau-ping, a 35-year-old housewife who joined 200 Falun Gong members in a demonstration near the territory's scenic Victoria Harbor. "Beijing's crackdown is completely unreasonable."

They used their bodies to form three Chinese characters meaning "Falun Gong is good."

[...]

Falun Gong remains legal in Hong Kong, which retains Western-style civil liberties that are a holdover from U.K. colonial days, and its followers frequently protest here.

The Hong Kong government has tolerated most Falun Gong activities but recently arrested 16 people, including four Swiss practitioners, for alleged obstruction when they protested outside the Chinese government's liaison office in Hong Kong in March.

[...]