Hong Kong student leader Joshua Wong to join anti-Xi Jinping rally in London

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Hong Kong student leader Joshua Wong to join anti-Xi Jinping rally in London

PUBLISHED : Tuesday, 20 October, 2015, 4:58pm
UPDATED : Tuesday, 20 October, 2015, 8:53pm

Danny Lee
[email protected]



Joshua Wong (left) is set to attend a protest in London against the visit by Xi Jinping (right) to London. Photos: AFP, Reuters

Student activist Joshua Wong Chi-fung is expected to lead a group of Hong Kong protesters today, joining forces with human rights groups to greet President Xi Jinping as he begins his state visit to Britain.

Members of the London branch of the Hong Kong Overseas Alliance (HKOA) will join forces with Amnesty International and Tibetan and Uygur activists in protesting against Xi’s arrival.

The protesters will congregate around St James Park, north of The Mall, away from Buckingham Palace, where Xi will receive a ceremonial welcome and later attend a state banquet hosted by the British royal family.

At the same time, a pro-China group will rally nearby to drum up support for the country.

The HKOA announced on its Facebook page that Wong would join the protest.

Wong’s visit to Britain coincided with Xi’s state visit. The activist is in the country to speak at several prestigious UK universities including the Oxford Union, the London School of Economics and The London School of Oriental and African Studies about democratisation in Hong Kong and self-determination.



Pro-China demonstrators will also be on hand in London. Photo: Reuters

The HKOA said: “International human rights organisations are protesting against Xi Jinping for the continuous prosecutions faced by Chinese activists, who have been supporting and encouraging Hong Kong people publicly, without regard for their own safety, during the Umbrella Revolution.

“As Hong Kong people, it is our turn to provide support and condemn Xi Jinping.”

The HKOA orchestrated Occupy solidarity protests in dozens of countries including outside the Chinese embassy in the British capital that attracted thousands of demonstrators.

Mainland dissident Shao Jiang is also expected to join the rally. He was a leading figure in the Chinese student movement who helped draft a list of demands during the 1989 Tiananmen pro-democracy protests.

The Amnesty International-led rally will attempt to highlight what it sees as a marked deterioration in the human rights situation in China under Xi.

“The government has ratcheted up censorship of the internet, clamped down on civil society, increased its ideological controls over the media and academia and launched several large-scale crackdowns on human rights defenders, lawyers, and activists. Most recently at least 245 lawyers and activists have been targeted in an unprecedented nationwide campaign over the last 100 days and at least 30 are ‘missing’ or still in police custody,” the human rights organisation added.





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