It was the first batch of sentences announced since the March 14 violence in Tibet and a Chinese crackdown that led to protests and disruption of the Olympic torch relay, most notably in London, Paris and San Francisco.

China has blamed Tibet’s spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, and his government-in-exile for plotting the riots, in which at least 18 “innocent civilians”, according to Beijing, were killed by Tibetan mobs in Lhasa last month.

South Korea is investigating violence at the relay in Seoul over the weekend.

Newspapers there ran angry editorials denouncing Chinese students who hurled rocks at groups criticising Beijing, charging into lines of police, beating pro-Tibet protesters and kicking an elderly man.

On Monday, North Korea mustered tens of thousands of people waving flags, plastic flowers and dancing in the streets for the first incident-free leg of the global torch relay.

In Hong Kong, about 3,000 policemen will guard the torch during its 8-hour relay.

In recent weeks, analysts say Hong Kong authorities have been under pressure from Beijing to tighten its immigration and security apparatus to smother any possible flare-up of trouble during the torch’s first touchdown on Chinese soil following its protest-marred global six-week tour.

Hong Kong blocked three pro-Tibet campaigners from entering the city on Tuesday and deported them, activists said.

Kate Woznow and Tsering Lama of the New York-based group Students for a Free Tibet, and Matt Whitticase of the London-based Free Tibet Campaign, were questioned at immigration and then put on a flights leaving Hong Kong, said Lhadon Tethong, executive director of the student group.

Over the weekend, authorities barred three Danish activists, including sculptor Jens Galschiot, from entering the city for “immigration reasons”. They had planned to protest against Chinese human rights violations during the city’s torch relay.

A senior official admitted the incident might have hurt Hong Kong’s free and open image, but said the city should be judged by its positive overall track record of allowing protests.

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