Activists and radical groups say that the city has become a ‘police state’ amid tight security and claims of members being tailed
It was a day of frustration for activists calling for greater democracy in Hong Kong and the release of prominent mainland dissident Liu Xiaobo as they were unable to catch visiting President Xi Jinping’s eye or make their voices heard by him.
They ended up complaining that the unprecedented security blanket had turned Hong Kong into a “police state”. A separatist group planning a public rally to “mourn the fall of Hong Kong” was forced to call off its plans.
On Friday night, about 20 activists from the Civil Human Rights Front defied police orders and staged a rally outside the Central Plaza in Wan Chai, instead of staying in the designated protest zone at Telecom House.
The Central Plaza is opposite the Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai, where Xi held meetings.
Front convenor Au Nok-hin said: “We want Xi to release Liu Xiaobo immediately. It is the demand of Hong Kong’s people. Xi should listen to them.”
Liu, the jailed dissident who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010, is on medical parole to treat his late-stage cancer.
Earlier on Friday, members of Au’s group unfurled a six-metre-long black banner from a 13th-floor flat in Sai Ying Pun that read: “Investigate the UGL” and “Send Wolf Leung on a journey”, to mark the last day of Leung Chun-ying’s tenure as Hong Kong’s chief executive.
The slogans refer to a controversy stemming from Leung’s acceptance of payment from Australian engineering firm UGL.
