Entertainment

Photo: The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

From left, French actress Laure Weissbecker, Hong Kong movie star Jackie Chan, Chinese actresses Zhang Lanxin and Yao Xingtong pose for photographers during the charity premiere of his new movie "CZ12" in Hong Kong, Thursday Dec. 13, 2012. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Jackie Chan suggests in a recent interview that protests should be restricted in the freewheeling Chinese city of Hong Kong.

The action star lamented that Hong Kong has become a city of protest, where people "scold China, scold the leaders, scold anything, protest against anything."

"There should be regulations on what can and cannot be protested," Chan told the Southern People Weekly, which published his comments Wednesday. He didn't say what kinds of protests he thought should be restricted.

The star of movies such as "Rush Hour" and "Rumble in the Bronx" triggered a backlash three years ago with similar comments on the need to restrict freedom in his hometown.

A former British colony, Hong Kong was returned to China in 1997 and is now a semiautonomous region. Residents are fiercely proud of the Western-style civil liberties they enjoy that are not seen on the mainland, including the freedom to demonstrate.

Chan also reflected in the interview on how different Hong Kong was before 1997.

"Hong Kong in the British era was not so free. Did you hear so much gossipy news? Were there so many taking to the streets? No. Very well behaved. The British badly repressed us," he told the magazine.

"We do not like repression. We like freedom. But you cannot do whatever you want."