Hong Kong - The head of Hong Kong's Olympic Committee Monday appealed to the city not to follow London's example by staging protests when the Olympic torch is paraded through the city.

Hong Kong will be the first place on Chinese soil to welcome the torch when it returns on May 2 from a worldwide tour that has already been marred by protests over Tibet.

Protest groups in the city of 6.9 million, the only place in China apart from Macau where anti-government protests are allowed, are already preparing to use the torch's arrival to demonstrate.

However, the president of the Olympic Committee of Hong Kong Timothy Fok said he did not think it would be appropriate to stage protests against the torch procession.

"The Olympic Games is an opportunity for Hong Kong athletes to get on to the world stage," he told Monday's Hong Kong Standard newspaper.

"Even though everyone has the freedom to express themselves, I think it is not good to send a political message on the day [the torch arrives]."

Fok was Monday in Beijing to discuss the arrangements for the Hong Kong procession with the Beijing Organizing Committee. A full rehearsal is due to be held in Hong Kong on April 18.

On Sunday, prominent pro-democracy campaigner and legislator Emily Lau appealed to Hong Kong's Beijing-appointed chief executive Donald Tsang not to crack down on anti-China protests.

Speaking on government-run RTHK radio, she said: "I urge the police not to overreact by trampling on the people's right to protest, as that will undermine Hong Kong's reputation as Asia's World City."

Hong Kong, a former British colony, reverted to Chinese sovereignty in 1997 under a "one country, two systems" arrangement guaranteeing political freedoms and the right to protest.(dpa)