LEAD: Anti-Communist newspaper's printing house in H.K. attacked

HONG KONG, March 1 Kyodo

(EDS: ADDING LEGISLATORS' QUOTES IN 7-10TH GRAFS)

The Hong Kong printing house of The Epoch Times, a daily newspaper known for reporting China's persecution of the outlawed Falun Gong movement and criticizing the Chinese Communist Party, was attacked Tuesday night, its chief editor said Wednesday.

Amy Chu confirmed a police report that four hammer-wielding men, aged between 20 and 30, broke into the printing office in the New Territories and damaged the computer-to-plate machine used for printing, but left within minutes without attacking the staff inside.

''We believed the men were special agents sent by the Communist Party,'' Chu said. ''The Epoch Times has been criticizing the party and the trend of withdrawal of party members for a long time. We are a platform for free speech in China despite the state's tight scrutiny.''

The newspaper reported that the men smashed their way through the locked glass doors of the office suite and ordered the seven Epoch Times employees present then to remain where they were, threatening to strike with a hammer a female Epoch Times employee who picked up a phone in a thwarted attempt to call the police.

They then began walking through the office as though looking for something, and spotting the so-called CPT developer, one of them was quoted as saying, ''Here it is.'' After smashing the machine with their hammers, they left immediately without damaging other equipment in the office or hurting any of the employees.

''The attack just showed that the party is scared of us telling the truth. We appeal for Hong Kong public's concern that violence against media can happen in a city embracing free speech,'' she said.

Four pro-democracy legislators -- Emily Lau of the Frontier political party, activist-turned-legislator Leung Kwok-hung, and democrats Albert Ho and Yeung Sum -- threw their support behind the newspaper at a press conference Wednesday and condemned the violent act.

''This is very serious as it is possibly politically oriented,'' Ho said Wednesday. ''If this kind of activity is allowed, Hong Kong's freedom of speech will deteriorate.''

Ho said he has raised the issue with Hong Kong's Security Secretary Ambrose Lee, who agreed to look into the matter.

Long-time China critic Leung said there is a 99 percent chance that the attack was plotted by the Chinese Communist Party. ''Violence against the media is serious,'' he said. ''It would be more serious if it was an act of the state.''

Chu said the damaged machine costs more than HK$1 million ($128,000) and is unlikely to be fixed. It is used to transfer computer files of the newspaper layout to microfilm, which is then used in printing the paper.

The newspaper managed to find other printer Tuesday night and so they can continue publishing for the meantime.

A police investigation is under way.

Chu said there has been series of attacks against The Epoch Times. On Feb. 8, its chief technical officer Li Yuan, who is a Falun Gong practitioner, was held at gunpoint and badly beaten in his Atlanta home in the United States, allegedly by special agents of the Chinese Communist Party.

Falun Gong is a peaceful meditation movement that was declared an ''evil cult'' in China but remains a legal organization in Hong Kong.

Epoch Times spokesman Cheryl Ng said the newspaper's employees have reported harassing phone calls on their private phones, and that their relatives in mainland China have received threats from Chinese Communist officials.

''In addition, when we are working on the paper, individuals call the office and tell us we are 'anti-China' or simply shout obscenities at us,'' she was quoted as saying in the online report.

The Epoch Times claims to be the largest of any Chinese-language newspaper outside of mainland China and Taiwan.

Its Chinese-language edition started publishing in New York in 2000 and went online the same year, followed soon after by local editions published by regional bureaus. The English edition was launched in September 2003 on the web, and in August 2004 as a newspaper in New York.

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