Members of the outlawed Chinese spiritual movement, Falun Gong, staged a rally and conference in Hong Kong at the weekend.
An estimated 1,000 supporters from more than 20 countries, including Ireland, attended, demanding recognition by the Chinese authorities.
Falun Gong claims 120 of its followers have died in detention since it was banned in July, 1999, and wants the right to practise freely in China.
China banned Falun Gong claiming it was an "evil cult" which brainwashed and cheated its followers. The group has staged regular protests in Tiananmen Square in Beijing.
Falun Gong is still legal in Hong Kong, which has retained a high degree of autonomy since the former British colony reverted to Chinese rule in 1997. However, Hong Kong officials were yesterday accused of detaining or deporting some overseas members of Falun Gong.
A Falun Gong member from New Jersey, Ms Yu Shan, claimed she was one of about a dozen people initially denied entry. "Hong Kong has started suppressing Falun Gong even though it is legal there," she said. She claimed police and an immigration officer attempted to force her back on an aircraft to the US but she succeeded in staying after making a strong protest.
Hong Kong officials said yesterday some Falun Gong practitioners were barred because they failed to meet visa requirements. They denied they were detained because of their Falun Gong affiliations.
While Falun Gong insists it has no political motives, Beijing has been alarmed by the group's ability to organise huge demonstrations.
On Friday, the head of the Communist Party publicity department, Mr Ding Guangen, was quoted as saying that China faced a "long-term and arduous" struggle against the group. He said efforts should be made to expose the political nature and the danger that the cult posed to society.
In the past week Chinese media have published criticisms of the group and its exiled leader, Mr Li Hongzhi, accusing them of being a "cheap tool" of Western forces trying to topple the Communist Party. But group members in Hong Kong have rejected the charges.
"All the accusations made by the Chinese government against Falun Gong are groundless," Mr Kan Hung-cheung, chairman of the Hong Kong Association of Falun Dafa, said. "We've stepped out to complain only because the Chinese government is launching a crackdown. To complain is a basic human right. There is no issue of subversion of China's power or a tool of Western hostile forces."
China's official Xinhua news agency singled out Mr Kan for criticism last week, calling him "a core member of the evil cult". Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a mixture of Taoism, Buddhism and traditional Chinese physical exercises. The group says about 50,000 members have been detained and many sent to labour camps without trial.
Beijing has accused Falun Gong of being in league with a whole range of dissident forces, including separatists in the western regions of Tibet and Xinjiang, supporters of Taiwan independence, and Chinese democracy activists.
AFP reports from Taipei: Taiwan will allow the first tourists from mainland China to visit the island in July, after more than 51 years, to help ease crossstrait tensions, Vice-President Annette Lu said yesterday. "Up to 500,000 tourists from the mainland will be permitted to visit Taiwan after July 1st," Ms Lu said.
Details of the new policy were still being drafted, she said, but in the meantime, China's government officials, state enterprise officials and high-tech experts would be allowed in.
Taiwan allowed its nationals to visit the mainland in 1987 for family reunions but mainland Chinese are still barred from visiting Taiwan.