Hong Kong activists demand release of jailed Chinese dissidents
PUBLISHED : Friday, 25 December, 2015, 7:11pm
UPDATED : Friday, 25 December, 2015, 7:19pm
Allen Au-yeung
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Pro-democracy demonstrators hold up signs and posters of jailed Chinese Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo during a protest outside the Chinese liaison office in Hong Kong today. Photo: Reuters
About 70 pro-democracy activists have marked Christmas Day by marching to Beijing’s liaison office in Hong Kong to demand the release of mainland dissidents in custody.
They rallied outside the gates of the office in Western district, shouting slogans and displaying pictures of jailed Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo and others detained by mainland authorities.
The protest was organised by the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China.
“Especially this year, we can see the suppression was worse than in previous years,” said Alliance vice-chairman Richard Tsoi Yiu-cheong. “From the detention of women’s rights activists early this year to the detention of human rights lawyers in the middle of this year.
A pro-democracy demonstrator holds up a chair prop, alluding to an empty chair at Liu Xiaobo's Nobel Peace Prize awarding ceremony in 2010, with a photo of Liu and his wife Liu Xia. Photo: Reuters
“Although we saw some high-profile dissidents like Gao Yu and Pu Zhiqiang were released for various reasons, they were still convicted.”
In 2009, Liu, a professor and political dissident, was sentenced to 11 years for inciting subversion because of his involvement in writing Charter 08, a petition advocating political reform in China.
He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010 but was unable to receive his award.
