Ex-Hong Kong lawmaker asks Europe to provide ‘safe haven’

A Hong Kong pro-democracy activist who’s visiting Denmark urged European nations on Wednesday to permit protesters in Hong Kong “a safe haven from the terror” of China’s Communist Party.

“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,” Ted Hui stated in an electronic mail to The Associated Press.

Britain has prolonged residency rights for as much as three million Hong Kongers eligible for British National Overseas passports, permitting them to dwell and work there for 5 years.

Britain additionally has adopted the United States, Australia and Canada in suspending extradition agreements with Hong Kong, a metropolis of seven.5 million individuals which turned a particular administrative area of China in 1997 after Britain returned management of the territory to Beijing, which promised it autonomy over native affairs for 50 years.

Hui arrived in Denmark on Tuesday “to change the Danish government’s stance,” in keeping with Thomas Rohden, chairman of the Danish China Critical Society, which organized his journey. A former Hong Kong legislator, Hui was capable of get his passport again from the federal government and a visa after receiving an invite from Danish lawmakers.

“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 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,” he stated.

“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,” Hui stated.

Since the beginning of the protests in June 2019, Hong Kong police have made greater than 10,000 arrests.

Prominent pro-democracy figures who’ve been arrested embrace activists Joshua Wong and Agnes Chow, in addition to media tycoon Jimmy Lai, an outspoken advocate for democracy. Hui was arrested in May over an incident within the Legislative Council during which he dropped a rotten plant and tried to kick it on the physique’s president.

Activists have accused the Hong Kong authorities and the central Chinese authorities in Beijing of tightening management over the semi-autonomous territory in response to calls for for extra democracy. They say authorities are destroying the autonomy promised to the town, a world monetary middle with larger freedoms than mainland China.