Hong Kong, Nov 13--(Agence France-Presse) Members of the Falungong spiritual group vowed Tuesday to keep flying banners denouncing mainland China which police have warned them to take down amid a sit-in outside Beijing's liaison office here. "Some 20 practitioners continue to raise the banners, which police ordered them yesterday to remove claiming they were causing public obstruction," Falungong spokeswoman Sophie Xiao said.

The banners included one which said "eradicate (Chinese president) Jiang Zemin's terrorist state," and another one called for the disbanding of the "610 office" allegedly set up by Beijing to wipe out the Falungong, Xiao said.

The group was banned on mainland China in 1999, after Beijing's communist leaders denounced it as an "evil cult" and the biggest threat to the country since the 1989 pro-democracy protests. But the Falungong, which says it is a peaceful spiritual movement combining Bhuddist teachings with mediation, remains legal in Hong Kong, even though the territory returned to Chinese rule in 1997.

Xiao said the sit-in denouncing the mainland ban had begun on September 24 and would continue even though it had been filmed by police early Tuesday. Some of the banners were already removed on Saturday by Hong Kong authorities, but the protestors replaced them.

She believed the police action had been prompted by complaint from the Beijing's liaison office, adding "it is ridiculous, so far the police have not found any excuse to charge us." Beijing has claimed the Falungong was responsible for the deaths of at least 1,660 people in China and has damaged society and the family unit.