SUPPORTERS of leading dissident Han Dongfan yesterday called on senior party leader Qiao Shi to press authorities to admit it was a mistake to revoke Mr Han's passport.
More than 50 people demonstrated outside the Xinhua (New China News Agency) headquarters against Beijing's decision to cancel Mr Han's passport, while some prominent pro-China figures cast doubts on the legality of the cancellation order.
Chanting slogans such as ''Chinese nationals have the right to return to China'', they urged the National People's Committee chaired by Mr Qiao to immediately convene a meeting to study whether the decision of the executive authorities had violated the Chinese Constitution and international law.
The rally was organised by the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of the Patriotic Democratic Movement in China, which has been labelled subversive by Beijing.
In an open letter to Mr Qiao, who is also a Politburo Standing Committee member, the alliance said Mr Han's case indicated that some officials in the Chinese Government had abused their powers, blatantly defied laws and acted wantonly.
''Chinese people all over the world were shocked and felt humiliated,'' it said.
Mr Han was told by Xinhua officials on Saturday that his passport had been declared void because he ''has done something opposing the Government and undermining the interests of the country''.