Europe urged to offer ‘safe haven’ for Hong Kong activists
2 December 2020, 12:44
Ted Hui said ‘it is important that the world knows that Hong Kong is no longer a free city’.
A Hong Kong pro-democracy activist has urged European nations to allow protesters in the territory “a safe haven from the terror” of China’s Communist Party.
Ted Hui, who is currently visiting Denmark, said: “The situation in Hong Kong is getting worse by the day and it is important that the world knows that Hong Kong is no longer a free city.”
Britain has extended residency rights for up to three million Hongkongers eligible for British National Overseas passports, allowing them to live and work there for five years.
Britain also has followed the United States, Australia and Canada in suspending extradition agreements with Hong Kong.
The city of 7.5 million people became a special administrative region of China in 1997 after Britain returned control of the territory to Beijing, which promised it autonomy over local affairs for 50 years.
Mr Hui arrived in Denmark on Tuesday “to change the Danish government’s stance”, according to Thomas Rohden, chairman of the Danish China Critical Society which organised his trip.
A former Hong Kong politician, Mr Hui was able to get his passport back from the government and a visa after receiving an invitation from Danish lawmakers.
He said: “When I began in politics, I never dreamed that the day would come that I could be jailed, but democracy is fragile, and it is the duty of all democrats everywhere to stick together in times of crisis.
“I call upon European countries such as Denmark to follow in the footsteps of Great Britain and allow protesters in Hong Kong a safe haven from the terror of CCP.
“All politicians around the world should stand up for democracy together and face the realities of the situation in Hong Kong.
“If democracies do not stand together, we will fall together.”
Since the start of the protests in June 2019, Hong Kong police have made more than 10,000 arrests.
Prominent pro-democracy figures who have been arrested include activists Joshua Wong and Agnes Chow, as well as media tycoon Jimmy Lai, an outspoken advocate for democracy.
Mr Hui was arrested in May over an incident in the Legislative Council in which he dropped a rotten plant and attempted to kick it at the body’s president.
Activists have accused the Hong Kong government and the central Chinese government in Beijing of tightening control over the semi-autonomous territory in response to demands for more democracy.
They say authorities are destroying the autonomy promised to the city, a global financial centre with greater freedoms than mainland China.
