HONG KONG - A security guard at the Chinese government liaison office here testified Thursday he phoned police about a Falun Gong protest outside because he feared sect members would try to barge through the door.
In its first criminal case against followers of Falun Gong, Hong Kong is trying 16 of them — including four Swiss — for public obstruction during a March 14 demonstration that was broken up in a scuffle with police.
The defendants have denied causing an obstruction, but the senior security guard testified that he worried they were about to cause trouble.
"I was concerned that they would dash inside," said Wong Yeung, who handles external security at the Chinese office.
The case against Falun Gong followers has stirred worries among human rights activists that Hong Kong is clamping down on the meditation sect, which is banned as an "evil cult" in mainland China and subjected to a brutal crackdown there.
Falun Gong is free to practice in Hong Kong, which continues to enjoy Western-style civil liberties, and it often protests here against the sect's suppression by Chinese President Jiang Zemin's government.
Hong Kong officials dispute allegations they are trying to stifle Falun Gong's message, saying instead they were only attempting to preserve order. Police arrested the Falun Gong followers in March only after ordering them several times to move their demonstration several steps away — not to stop it.
Wong testified that Falun Gong's protest had hindered several dozen people who had to walk in through a driveway or use a back door to get into the government liaison office.
Defense attorney John Haynes said most workers would have entered the building through the driveway anyway. He suggested police, who put up barricades after the protest was broken up, might have created more of an obstruction than the Falun Gong followers.
Haynes also said that Wong had overstated the size of the Falun Gong demonstration when describing it to police so they could make a diagram of the scene.
"The reason you exaggerated the size of the demonstration is because you know that small group did not cause any obstruction," Haynes said.
Wong said he had made his best estimate.
All 16 defendants face two counts of public obstruction, while three face charges of assaulting the police and nine face the most serious charge in the trial — obstructing the police.
The potential penalties range from up to three months in jail or a fine of 500 Hong Kong dollars (U.S. dlrs 64) for the lesser of the public obstruction charges, up to six months in jail for assaulting police and up to two years in jail for obstructing police.