Pro-Beijing lawmaker Junius Ho pulls his horse from racing until unrest ends

A controversial pro-Beijing lawmaker has said that a horse he co-owns won’t take part in any races in Hong Kong until the unrest in the city comes to an end.

Junius Ho made the announcement on Thursday after the Jockey Club said that they would cancel all races on Wednesday amid fears that anti-government protesters would target the race course because Hong Kong Bet — a horse that Ho co-owns — was racing that day.

In his statement, he said: “After deliberations with two co-owners, for supporting the healthy development of horse racing for public benefit in Hong Kong, for the legal rights of horse racing fans, and for the sake of Hong Kong’s long term stability and calmness, we decided to suspend Hong Kong Bet from participating in races until disturbances in Hong Kong have stopped.”

He then goes on to say: “The horse is innocent, we shouldn’t deprive Hong Kong Bet’s of it’s right to run because of its outstanding performance. We are talking about human rights every day. But animals also have their fundamental rights.”

He concludes his statement by saying that it’s not a crime to “love my country and love Hong Kong.”

https://www.facebook.com/JuniusHoKwanYiu/photos/a.1035763239849864/2477728335653340/?type=3&theater

The news comes ahead of a “clean up” action organised by Ho to tear down the city’s numerous Lennon Walls. Ho had announced on Facebook that he was hoping for at least 30,000 people to take part in the event, which will take place in about 90 areas across all 18 districts in Hong Kong.

The city’s police force confirmed to Coconuts HK via email that Ho had earlier applied for a letter of no objection from police for a clean up activity taking place in several areas on Saturday, September 21. However, Ho contacted the police again on Thursday to let them know that he was withdrawing all letter of no objection applications for the event.

On the face of it, it sounds like the event is canceled, right? Wrong.

In a Facebook live video posted in the early hours of this morning, Ho clarified that the event would go ahead, saying that a representative of his met with police, and that they informed him that it was not necessary for him to apply for a letter of no objection for each district.