Falun Gong protest against arrests

Police arrested ten hunger strikers Saturday

By CNN's Rose Tang and wires

HONG KONG, China -- Members of the Falun Gong spiritual movement in Hong Kong have entered day two of their hunger strike in support of other followers detained in mainland China.

About 11 Falun Gong members protested Sunday morning outside a Hong Kong police station over arrests that took place on Saturday.

Police arrested 10 members of the sect several hours after they began a hunger strike at the front entrance of the Chinese Liaison Office, Beijing's respresentative body in the territory.

The hunger strikers were released without charge after police questioned them for several hours Saturday afternoon in the Western District Police Station.

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The Falun Gong members then continued their hunger strike outside the police station Sunday demanding police remove a barricade erected outside the Chinese Liaison Office.

Falung Gong spokeswoman Sophie Xiao told CNN that police said they made the arrests after the Liaison Office complained the hunger strike "obstructed the traffic".

Police agreed to remove the barricade and allow the hunger strikers to continue their protest outside the Liaison Office.

The Hong Kong government said in a statement regarding the arrests late on Saturday that the police "would endeavour to ensure public order, safety and reduce any inconvenience to the public to the minimum."

Police spokesman Ricky Chong told Reuters earlier that the hunger strikers were arrested because they had ignored repeated police requests to relocate their sit-in protest to a public area near the Chinese Liaison Office, away from the front entrance.

Falun Gong is banned by Beijing but remains legal in Hong Kong, a former British colony promised a high degree of autonomy when it reverted to Chinese rule in 1997.

The movement says more than 50,000 practitioners have been thrown into prisons, labour camps and mental hospitals around China.

Sophie Xiao of Falun Gong in Hong Kong told CNN that their hunger strike was to echo similar actions of three weeks by about 150 Falun Gong followers detained in a "reform through labor" camp in northereastern province of Heilong Jiang.

Human rights groups estimate some 200 Falun Gong followers have died from torture while in detention in China.

Chinese authorities have acknowledged several deaths in custody, but attributed most to suicide or illness.

Beijing has said 150 prominent members have been jailed, mostly for "using a cult for obstructing justice," but has been silent on the numbers sent for "reform through labour" punishment that does not require a judicial trial.