Hong Kong activists on Sunday held rallies calling for a thorough and open investigation into a fatal train crash in China on July 23 that killed at least 40 people and injured almost 200.

There has been widespread criticism of Beijing's handling of the tragedy after two high-speed trains collided on the outskirts of the city of Wenzhou, in the worst accident yet to hit China's rapidly growing high-speed network.

"We want a thorough investigation," Leung Kwok-hung, a lawmaker from the League of Social Democrats told AFP by phone after leading two dozen party members in a march to the China liaison office in the southern Chinese city.

"We want the Chinese government to appoint respected individuals and form an independent committee to investigate this tragedy in a transparent manner. You can't rely on the railway authorities to do the job," he said.

The protesters placed a wreath and jasmine flowers -- a symbol that has been linked to calls for uprisings in mainland China echoing those in the Arab world -- outside the liaison office and observed a minute's silence for the dead.

Leung also condemned Beijing's reported move to impose a widespread ban on coverage of the incident, which forced newspapers across China to scrap stories about the crash, and described the ban as "alarming".

"Free press is the most fundamental right in a society," said the lawmaker.

Separately, about 200 people from People Power, another Hong Kong political party, held a similar march to the China liaison office over Beijing's handling of the rail crash, according to public broadcaster RTHK.

The ban came after Chinese media published rare criticism of the government over its response to the July 23 crash, which raised questions over whether safety concerns may have been overlooked in the rush to expand the network.

The Hong Kong Journalists' Association has condemned the ban, saying it was not in line with Chinese premier Wen Jiabao's pledge of an "open and transparent" investigation when he visited the crash site last week.

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