A crowd of protesters gathered outside the UK Consulate-General in Hong Kong on the evening of Nov. 29, in support of a former British consulate employee in Hong Kong, who said he was detained and tortured by Chinese authorities.
A few hundred protesters, some carrying Union Jack flags, chanting “We are all Simon,” referring to a former consulate employee, Simon Cheng, who said Chinese secret police beat him and deprived him of sleep to try to get information about activists leading the months-long protests.
Cheng is a Hong Kong citizen who worked for the British government for almost two years.
Alex Chan, one of the leaders at Friday’s protest, said the UK should take more initiative to protect British nationals overseas.
“In the Simon Cheng interview, he mentioned some Hong Kongers being detained maybe because of political reasons,” Chan said.
“So, this is clearly a breach of Sino-British Joint Declaration, so, that’s why we are here to ask the UK government to intervene and to save the Hong Kongers from the CCP (Chinese Communist Party).”
Protesters are also urging London to extend citizenship to Hong Kong residents born before the 1997 handover to China and classified as overseas British nationals.
Chinese police acknowledge Cheng was held for 15 days in August, but gave no reasons.
Reporting by NTD News.
