Hong Kong, Apr 8: Chinese authorities have stopped issuing multiple-entry visas to foreigners and slowed visa processing in Hong Kong, a major gateway for travel to the mainland, in restrictions that will last until after the Beijing Olympics, local travel agents said Tuesday.

The restrictions come amid criticism of China's human rights record from abroad after its recent crackdown on anti-government riots in Tibet. Protesters tried to disrupt the Olympic torch relay in Paris and London this week.

Travel agent Luk Tak said Chinese authorities are now only issuing single- or double-entry visas to foreigners in Hong Kong, scaling back a program that used to issue multiple-entry business visas that lasted up to three years.

An official at another travel agency, who declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue, said the best visa his agency can currently obtain is a double-entry visa valid for three months.

He said China also has suspended one-day travel visas to the neighboring Chinese city of Shenzhen, a popular shopping destination. Hong Kong-based travel agent Forever Bright Trading Ltd. said on its Web site that multiple-entry visas have been suspended from March 28 until Oct. 17. The Beijing Olympics are scheduled to take place Aug. 8-24.

In Beijing, a woman who answered the phone Tuesday at the Foreign Ministry said, ``We have no comment on this at the moment.'' Like most Chinese bureaucrats she refused to give her name. Luk said fewer Chinese visa offices are handling visas.