Hong Kong will not welcome anyone who plans to disrupt proceedings or "damage the solemnity of the Olympic Games," according to government officials.

The statement, made in a paper to the Legislative Council security panel, comes after at least eight foreigners have been denied entry into the former British colony recently.

They included Danish sculptor Jens Galschiot, famous for his work The Pillar of Shame, created in 1997 to mark the eighth anniversary of the Tiananmen Square protests, plus two Britons, two Canadians and one Swede.

It also follows tough new visa restrictions imposed by Beijing last month.

The document said Hong Kong, as a co-host of the Beijing Games in August, has an obligation to ensure activities proceed in a "safe, peaceful and smooth manner".

Grace Lui, Deputy Secretary for Security, said the government has a "watch list" of people whose entry into Hong Kong, which is the venue for the Olympic equestrian events, might not be "conducive to the public good."

However, not everyone on the list would be automatically banned, she said.

The government’s tough stance has come under fire from democratic lawmakers who said it would damage Hong Kong’s international reputation. Legislator Cheung Man-kwong was q uoted in the South China Morning Post as saying that the government’s behaviour in refusing entry to some foreigners had damaged the "one country, two systems" policy, which Hong Kong and China adopted when Hong Kong was returned to China in 1997.

At the beginning of April China suddenly stopped issuing multiple-entry visas to people travelling from Hong Kong, giving out only single and double-entry visas instead.

Applicants have been asked to provide proof of hotel bookings and return tickets before visas are issued, and China has stopped issuing visas at the border as it previously did in some cases.

The sudden change of policy has caused consternation among business people based in Hong Kong who for years have made weekly trips to China using multiple-entry visas. Before the ban, foreigners could get multiple-entry visas for up to three years to visit mainland China from Hong Kong.

China said its visa policy did not mean the suspension of multiple-entry visas but that the arrangements had been made in line with the Olympic practices. "We made due arrangements regarding the visa applications of foreigners based on the practices of previous Olympics and other large-scale international sports events, and in light of China’s laws and regulations," foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang said.

Australia’s Foreign Minister Stephen Smith has called for clarification from Beijing about the tough new visa restrictions.