Amid final preparations before Friday's leg of the torch relay - which has been dogged by protests on its worldwide journey - Ms Farrow said there had been no problems with officials on her arrival.

'They were very polite and very nice,' she told reporters at Hong Kong airport. 'They wanted some assurance that we are not here to disrupt the torch relay, which of course we are not.'

Ms Farrow, who is pushing China to help stop violence in Sudan's conflict-riven Darfur region, will give a speech in Hong Kong on Friday entitled 'Darfur and the Olympics'.

Asked what she thought Beijing should do on the Sudan issue, Ms Farrow said the government could press leaders in Khartoum to 'cease the aerial bombardment and ground attacks' and let in a full complement of international peacekeepers.

The torch arrived in Hong Kong on Wednesday to begin its journey through China after a round-the-world relay marred by protests over China's human rights record and controversial crackdown on unrest in Tibet.

The parade through the city on Friday is expected to offer campaigners their final chance to criticise China on a range of issues, before it passes from the relatively open former British colony to the more restrictive mainland.

Before Ms Farrow's arrival, at least 13 people - including known members of activist groups - were prevented from entering the Chinese territory in the run-up to the relay, diplomats and campaign groups have said.

The latest to be refused entry is a British man, who tried to enter the Asian financial hub on Tuesday, a spokesman for the British Consulate said on Thursday.

Free Tibet press officer Matt Whitticase, also British, was also prevented this week from entering and flown back to Britain.

'We are seeking a meeting with Hong Kong's secretary of security to clarify why two British nationals were denied entry,' the spokesman said.

Senior representatives of the European Commission were also expected to seek a meeting with the Hong Kong government over the issue, a report in the South China Morning Post newspaper said.

The Hong Kong immigration department has refused to comment on individual cases, but the issue to restrict entry ahead of the relay has drawn condemnation from several rights groups.

Others turned away include two Canadian pro-Tibet campaigners on Tuesday.

Danish sculptor and rights campaigner Jens Galschiot and two others were turned away on Saturday.

A writer and Chinese citizen, Zhang Yu, was prevented from entering the territory and sent back to Sweden on Tuesday as he tried to enter to address a freedom of speech event, the Hong Kong Journalists' Association said,

Another spokesman for the event said five people had also been prevented from attending the same long-planned conference after trying to enter Hong Kong from mainland China.

Amnesty International said the city's concerns about maintaining public order should not be used as an excuse to clamp down on 'fundamental human rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly'.

After the torch's journey through Hong Kong - which includes a trip across the city's spectacular Victoria Harbour - it will be paraded in nearby Macau on Saturday.

Organisers in Macau said on Thursday the relay leg has been cut in half from seven hours to just over three on advice from Olympic officials in Beijing, without elaborating.

From Macau, it will snake its way through the Chinese mainland to the capital Beijing for the August 8 Olympic opening ceremony.

Hong Kong, a wealthy financial centre returned to China by colonial power Britain in 1997, boasts liberal legal and economic arrangements agreed after the handover, making it a potential target for protesters. -- AFP