Protest students denied access to NPC members

Student representatives were yesterday refused permission to meet senior National People's Congress members to discuss the right-of-abode controversy.

Instead they were told they could hand in a petition opposing reinterpretation of the Basic Law to the Standing Committee office today.

Students Parry Leung Pak-nang and Lo Chi-fung were given the news at a 25-minute meeting with office staff, hours after they arrived by train from Shenzhen with fellow student Chan Ka-kin.

Mr Leung said: 'They just gave us a form to fill in with personal information and the things that we wanted to complain about.' They wrote down their opposition to reinterpretation and their demand to meet committee members, but were rejected on the grounds that the members were too busy.

The students said they would only hand in their 15,000-signature petition if officials promised to put their views on the agenda for next week's committee meeting, at which reinterpretation will be discussed.

The three, who represent the Hong Kong Federation of Students, want the committee to reject the Government's request to overturn January's Court of Final Appeal ruling, which increased the number of mainlanders with right of abode in Hong Kong.