Dissidents refused entry to Hong Kong for 1989 massacre memorial

May 25, 2009, 9:28 GMT

   Hong Kong - Three Chinese dissidents were barred from Hong Kong for events marking the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre, a government-run radio station said Monday.

   Former student protestors Wang Dan and Wang Juntao, now living in the United States, have been refused visas to enter Hong Kong for a conference on the 1989 Beijing massacre, radio station RTHK reported.

   A third dissident, Yang Jianli, was refused entry when he arrived at Hong Kong airport three weeks ago, the station quoted event organiser Joseph Cheng of Hong Kong's City University as saying.

   The conference in Hong Kong takes place next week in the days running up to anniversary of the June 4 killing of hundreds and possibly thousands of student protestors in Beijing.

   Wang Dan and Yang Jianli have previously been refused entry to the China-ruled former British colony which unlike mainland China has freedom of speech guaranteed in its mini-constitution.

   No reason had been given by the Chinese Foreign Ministry or the Hong Kong Immigration Department for the exclusions, the radio station said.

   Tens of thousands of people take part in a candlelight vigil to remember the 1989 massacre every June 4 in Hong Kong, the only place on Chinese soil where the killings are publicly commemorated.

   Hong Kong's Beijing-appointed leader Donald Tsang sparked an outcry earlier this month when he suggested to legislators most people in the city of 7 million wanted to forget the Tiananmen Square massacre events.