Twenty-six pro-democracy activists were arrested this evening after a three-hour sit-in protest that saw a number of them climb the Golden Bauhinia statue in Wan Chai, one day before President Xi Jinping is scheduled to visit the city for the 20th anniversary of the handover.
More than 20 people, including student leader Joshua Wong, young lawmaker Nathan Law, and legislator “Long Hair” protested around the statue, which was given to Hong Kong as a gift from China to mark the city’s “return to its motherland” in 1997. The bauhinia flower, also known as the “Hong Kong orchid”, became the city’s emblem in 1997.
Some activists climbed inside the sculpture, including the League of Social Democrats’ Raphael Wong, who appears in this photo to have chained himself to the flower’s stigma:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10213680020820834&set=a.2228706803213.2133677.1414116366&type=3&theater
Protesters displayed a banner reading “Hong Kong people need genuine universal suffrage” and “release Liu Xiaobo”, in reference to the Chinese dissident and Nobel laureate who was released from prison this week on medical parole for late-stage cancer. Demonstrators locked arms and chanted “Long live the Umbrella Movement!” and “I’m a Hongkonger!” as police cordoned off the square, which is a popular attraction for mainland Chinese tourists. The site is also near where President Xi’s delegation will be staying from tomorrow to Saturday.
Activists climbed onto Hong Kong's Bauhinia statue, locking arms, to protest Xi Jinping, call for Liu Xiaobo's release and democracy for HK. pic.twitter.com/V7zlEo0hnf
— Alan Wong (@alanwongw) June 28, 2017
Xi is scheduled to attend anniversary celebrations, swear in Chief Executive-elect Carrie Lam, and “inspect Hong Kong” on his three-day trip, the first he has taken to Hong Kong since 2008.
Joshua Wong’s party, Demosisto, said on Twitter that the activists planned to stay at the statue “until removed”. After warning protesters that they would be arrested if they didn’t leave, police officers led them away. While Wong was being carried to a police van, he was heard shouting, “Protest on July 1!”.
Police confirmed that 26 individuals, including Wong and Law, had been arrested for causing a public nuisance. Earlier this week, around a dozen pro-democracy activists, including Joshua Wong, covered the bauhinia statue with a black flag to convey their message that “one country, two systems has been a lie for 20 years.”
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