Former opposition lawmaker Dennis Kwok has left Hong Kong for Canada with his family, reports say, joining the growing list of activists who have fled amid deteriorating political freedoms in the city.
According to HK01, the 42-year-old flew to London at the end of November, shortly after he and three other lawmakers were disqualified from the Legislative Council for supporting Hong Kong independence and lobbying foreign governments, authorities claimed.
Kwok then arrived in Canada, Oriental Daily reported, where his wife and children joined him in February.
A barrister by trade, Kwok won a seat in the Legislative Council in 2012 as a representative of the legal sector constituency.
He was among the founding members of Civic Party, a pro-democracy party that has fielded a number of politicians to the Legislative Council.
The disqualification of Kwok and three other legislators was a pivotal moment for the anti-government movement, triggering the collective resignation of the city’s pro-democracy lawmakers and leaving the legislation without an effective opposition.
Read more: ‘A farce’: Beijing denounces mass resignation of Hong Kong pro-democracy lawmakers
After he was unseated, Kwok announced that he would be quitting politics, citing the pressure that his family has faced over the past few months.
“Parliamentary politics has become obsolete and I have to let young people decide how to move forward,” Kwok said in an interview with NowTV, adding that he had no regrets.
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