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Activist sounds alarm over Beijing's warning

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Updated at 8.13pm: Beijing's warning against Hong Kong Falun Gong followers was worrying and an attack on ''One Country, Two Systems principle, a human rights activist said on Wednesday.

Law Yuk-kai, the director of Hong Kong Human Rights Monitor said the warning made by the liaison office was ''problematic''. ''It [the liaison office] meddled on Hong Kong's internal affairs. It even directed the SAR Government to take certain action [against the Falun Gong members],'' he said.

Mr Law called the Government's response to Beijing's Tuesday night attack on the SAR group ''cowardly'' and said the SAR should fight for the principle of ''one country, two systems''.

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''As Andrew Li Kwok-nang [the Chief Justice] said, constitutional guarantees for freedom lie at the heart of Hong Kong's separate system. How can we abandon the core principle [of One Country, Two Systems]?'' he said.

He said Falun Gong activities in Hong Kong was no more than a peaceful exercise of the rights guaranteed by the Basic Law. ''People can have the freedom to religion and gathering,'' he added.

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Mr Law also worried that Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa would sacrifice the rights of Hong Kong people to please pro-Beijing groups. ''Tung is not so conscious in preserving the rights of Hong Kong people,'' he commented.

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