Deutsche Presse-Agentur(DPA): Hong Kong officials accused of trying to ban Falun Gong brochure

Australian Chinese artist Zhang Cuiying, jailed for eight months in China for being a Falun Gong [practitioner] in 2000, was refused entry to Hong Kong without explanation for the exhibition, which ran from Friday to Monday.

Organisers were then allegedly told by officials not to give out the catalogue featuring her work at the exhibition in the government-owned venue City Hall because its contents were "not relevant" to the event. Exhibition organisers ignored the instruction and handed out Zhang's brochure, which contains information about Falun Gong and details of her arrest and imprisonment, the South China Morning Post reported.

Amy Chu, one of the organisers, said she had received two verbal and two written warnings from officials saying they might be banned from future bookings of the venue if they continued to give out the brochures.

She also complained that police had visited the exhibition three times over the weekend, causing a "nuisance" to the exhibition and unsettling members of the public.

Police insisted they have not targetted the Falun Gong, and had simply been told to keep an eye on the exhibition during their patrols.

Falun Gong is banned [...] in mainland China, but [practitioners] are free to practice in Hong Kong under the "one country, two systems" arrangement that guarantees people in the territory freedom of expression.

Members claim the Hong Kong government is taking an increasingly hardline against them, however. Earlier this month, 16 members were fined for obstruction over a demonstration they staged in March in a case that attracted international attention.