The protesters said Lee does not deserve the honor because the ''dictatorship'' and ''authoritarian paternalism'' style of politics he masterminded had deprived Singapore of true democracy and freedom.

Shouting slogans, holding banners and distributing leaflets at the campus of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, protesting students and professors urged participants at the conferment ceremony not to applaud when Lee received the honor and to turn their backs to the podium to show their anger.

More than 1000 students, professors and members of the public signed an online campaign launched last month to voice their dissent for the university's honor for Lee.

A handful of members of the April Fifth Action Group, a pro-democracy organization, chanted ''Lee Kuan Yew go home'' outside the ceremony venue. They also burned leaflets featuring Lee's photograph.

Ten representatives of Amnesty International's (AI) Hong Kong Section, meanwhile, staged a puppet show as part of the protests against Lee, now senior minister in the Singaporean Prime Minister's Office.

''Many of the human rights problems faced today in Singapore are those inherited from his premiership. Indeed, the new post of senior minister, created especially for him, shows that he has no intention of giving up his influence,'' AI said in a statement.

The ceremony proceeded smoothly, with only a few of some 4000 graduates who received their degrees staging a silent demonstration at the rear of the venue.

A Sha Tin district councilor sitting in the front row, held up his fist to protest when Lee was conferred the honorary doctorate.

Responding to press questions on the students' action, Lee brushed off the protests, saying it was ''totally irrelevant.''

''I am not coming here to seek the approval of the citizens of Hong Kong,'' Lee said.

Lee, who was Singapore's prime minister for 31 years until 1990, is a controversial political figure. Supporters praise him for turning the city-state into a modern, wealthy nation, while critics blame him for high-handed suppression.

At the conferment ceremony, the Chinese University praised Lee for being ''one of the great statesmen of the last century in any country and a brilliant politician who has become a valued adviser of many governments besides that of Singapore.''

The three other people awarded honorary doctorates Thursday were Chen Jiaer, president of China's National Natural Science Foundation and former president of Beijing University, Daisaku Ikeda, president of Soka Gakkai International and founder of Soka University in Japan, and Tin Ka-ping, a local entrepreneur and philanthropist.