HONG KONG (AFP) — The Olympic torch arrived in Hong Kong Wednesday to begin its journey through China, as the decision to bar protesters from the relay raised fears over the city's commitment to freedom of speech.
The plane carrying the flame landed from Hanoi as the 100-day countdown to the Beijing Games began.
Friday's relay is expected to offer a last chance for pro-Tibet protesters and critics of China's rights record to target the torch before it passes from the relatively open former British colony to the more restrictive mainland.
The torch was carried down the airplane's steps and across a red carpet as children waved flags on one side and a band played on the other, said an AFP photographer at the scene.
It was then taken by bus to an official welcoming ceremony in the city centre before being moved to a hotel where it will be held under tight security until its run through the city.
"Welcome home!" Hong Kong's chief secretary Henry Tang said at the ceremony, after the torch's journey through 19 cities and five continents.
The Hong Kong leg will take in the city's spectacular Victoria Harbour and venues for the summer's equestrian events that will be held here.
The 120 torchbearers are to include acting heartthrob Andy Lau, members of the three wealthiest tycoon families and Hong Kong's only gold medal Olympian, windsurfer Lee Lai-shan.
The torch will then be paraded in nearby Macau on Saturday, before snaking its way through the Chinese mainland to the capital Beijing for the August 8 opening ceremony.
But the relay has been overshadowed by the barring of at least seven activists from Hong Kong in the past few days, raising concerns that the city's much-cherished freedom of speech laws are being compromised.
"It is an ominous development when entry to (Hong Kong) appears to hinge on concerns that individuals could express opinions running contrary to that of the Chinese government," said Phelim Kine, Asian researcher with Human Rights Watch.
Three pro-Tibet campaigners who were planning events to coincide with the relay were detained and flown out of Hong Kong on Tuesday, their groups said in a statement.
A writer and Chinese citizen, Zhang Yu, was also prevented from entering the territory on Tuesday to address a freedom of speech event, the Hong Kong Journalists' Association (HKJA) told AFP.
"We think it is bizarre that the Hong Kong government are so oversensitive to protect the torch at the expense of people's rights," said Mak Yin-tiny, general secretary of the HKJA, who said the event was organised before the torch relay dates were announced.
The latest deportations come after three people, including a Danish rights campaigner, were barred from entering the city on Saturday.
The relay has been dogged on its round-the-world journey, notably in Paris and London, by activists protesting at China's military crackdown in Tibet and its record on human rights.
It has turned what Beijing had hoped would be a triumphant demonstration of its status as Games host into a public relations disaster.
Hong Kong, a wealthy financial centre returned to China by colonial power Britain in 1997, boasts liberal legal and economic arrangements under the 'one country, two systems' agreement brokered before the handover.
A spokeswoman for Hong Kong's immigration department would not comment on individual cases, adding that it had "the responsibility to uphold effective immigration control so as to ensure Hong Kong's public interest."
American actress Mia Farrow, who is pushing China to help stop violence in Sudan's conflict-riven Darfur region, is expected to arrive here Thursday to give a speech entitled "Darfur and the Olympics."
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