Voice of Hope February 27, 2024 (Comprehensive report by our reporter Zheng Xin)
Rarely, 3 people protested with 100 police officers standing guard
The public consultation conducted by the Hong Kong government on the legislation of Article 23 of the Basic Law will expire on February 28. Three members of the Social Democratic League went to protest outside the government headquarters on Tuesday (27th) and expressed their opinions on Article 23 and the budget. The police were dispatched about 50 people were on guard at the scene.
Social Democratic League Chairman Chen Baoying, Vice Chairman of External Affairs Zhou Jiafa, and Vice Chairman of Internal Affairs Yu Weibin arrived at the Admiralty Admiralty Center at about 9 a.m. and were “surrounded” by at least 50 plainclothes police officers. The police reminded Chen Baoying that as the organizer of this public event, regardless of her actions, remarks, slogans and displayed items, if she involves inciting a breach of public order and behavioral peace and arouses public dissatisfaction with the government, she may have the opportunity to commit crimes.
Later, a police officer identified himself and asked to inspect the protest items of the three people. During this period, the three people impromptuly read the content of the banner, including the words “The people are greater than the country, and the people are greater than the political power. Without democracy and human rights, there is no national security.” Stopped by the police. Afterwards, the three people were released and followed the route required by the police to walk outside the main gate of the Political Bureau. During this period, plainclothes police officers filmed the entire process.
After the three people arrived outside the door of the Political Council, Chen Baoying lamented in her opening remarks: “It is really not easy to be in front of the Political Council.” The three of them then took turns to read out the legislative opinions on Article 23 of the Basic Law. The content of the book prompted Xia Baolong, director of the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office, who was conducting research in Hong Kong, to hear the voices of Hong Kong people and “learn the reality of Hong Kong from another perspective.”
The Social Democratic League believes that the SAR government should first implement double universal suffrage for the Chief Executive and the Legislative Council before enacting Article 23 legislation. In addition, tomorrow will be the third anniversary of the arrest of a group of defendants in the pro-democracy primary election case. She calls on the authorities to review the Hong Kong National Security Law, which has been in effect for more than three years, and amend or abolish the criticized provisions.
In addition, the Social Democratic League has also put forward a number of suggestions for the new “Financial Budget” to be released tomorrow, including opposing the northern metropolitan area and Kau Yi Chau artificial island projects, calling for the establishment of a universal retirement security system, allocating 100 billion as seed funds, and opposing cuts Public services related to people’s livelihood, allocating more resources to social welfare projects, and directly distributing cash of NT$5,000 to all Hong Kong citizens instead of consumer coupons.
Since the implementation of the Hong Kong version of the national security law in 2019, protests in Hong Kong have almost disappeared. The Social Democratic League is one of the last remaining opposition groups and its members have faced numerous prosecutions.
The French Broadcasting Corporation described today’s demonstration held by the Social Democratic League in downtown Hong Kong as “a rare protest.”
Veteran pro-democracy figures named in Jimmy Lai’s case resumption
The trial of Hong Kong Next Media founder Jimmy Lai’s case continued on Monday (26th), and Chen Peimin, then vice president of Apple Daily, continued to give evidence. Some analysts believe that Chen Pei-man and the first prosecution accomplice witness mentioned many well-known Hong Kong pro-democracy figures when being questioned by the prosecution, fearing that the authorities may take follow-up actions in the future.
According to Voice of America, the “Li Zhiying case” entered the 32nd day of trial on Monday. Jimmy Lai and Chen Peimin, who have been in prison for more than three years and two and a half years, were escorted to the court building in prison cars respectively. There are estimated to be hundreds of police officers in military uniforms and plain clothes stationed inside and outside the court, maintaining tight security.
During the trial, Chen Peimin, the former vice president of Apple Daily who had pleaded guilty, said that she had visited Jimmy Lai in prison, and Jimmy Lai did not mention changing the angle of Apple Daily’s reporting.
The prosecution also asked, while on bail, did Jimmy Lai express his intention to change the reporting angle of Apple Daily through electronic communications such as Signal, WhatsApp, Slack, and emails? Chen Peimin replied “no”.
When the prosecution asked whether she agreed with Jimmy Lai’s political stance, Chen Peimin said that she agreed with the defendant’s political stance from a macro perspective, such as basic values such as democracy and freedom, but she did not agree with the other party’s actions every time.
Chen Peimin, the former vice president of Apple Daily, is the prosecution’s second accessory witness and is about to complete her testimony.
During the trial of Jimmy Lai’s British security case, Chen Pei-man and another prosecution accessory witness, former chief and deputy president of Apple Daily, Zhang Jianhong, mentioned many well-known Hong Kong democrats under the prosecution’s questioning, including the founding chairman of the Democratic Party, Martin Lee. , as well as former Chief Secretary for Administration Anson Chan, among others.
Zhong Jianhua, a former assistant professor at the Department of Applied Social Sciences at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, believes that in Jimmy Lai’s case, names such as Martin Lee and Anson Chan have been mentioned repeatedly. How the government will follow up in the future is still a suspense, but At least these people have taken advantage of Jimmy Lai’s case to first add a so-called criminal connection.
Chung Kin-wah said that after the trial of Jimmy Lai’s British security case is completed, it is estimated that Article 23 of the Basic Law may have been passed. Will Martin Lee and even Anson Chan become the next wave of national security police and even the targets of the national security system? This possibility It really can’t be ruled out.
Jimmy Lai has been detained for more than three years since his bail was revoked in December 2020. The case will be tried on December 18, 2023. The outside world believes that the practice of judging before trial confirms the fact that the national security law implemented by Beijing in Hong Kong overrides the “common law” that has been implemented in Hong Kong.
Zhou Ting recalls life in prison: living in fear
Zhou Ting, former deputy secretary-general of Demosisto Hong Kong, released the video “My Days in Prison” on the 26th. This is the first time Zhou Ting updated his YouTube channel in more than three years, and nearly 80,000 people watched it within three hours.
Zhou Ting first greeted the audience in Japanese and said that he would continue to update the channel, but due to security considerations, he would not release too many daily clips.
Zhou Ting described in detail her past experiences in prison. While she was incarcerated, she was suddenly transferred to a “Class A prisoner.” This generally refers to people who have committed serious criminal crimes and are usually detained for a long time or even life imprisonment. Therefore, Zhou Ting felt very fear.
She recalled that she would feel lonely after being held in solitary confinement; her job was to make clothes, such as prisoners’ pajamas and pants, etc. She knew nothing about it and had to learn how to cut threads.
Zhou Ting said that in prison she would chat with her fellow inmates, talk and laugh, and was not bullied or isolated. What she resisted was sitting in a prison van. The prison vans used by Class A prisoners were sealed, giving the feeling of being tightly surrounded by four walls.
She said that entertainment in prison includes watching TV, drawing and reading books. Because being in jail is already very heavy, she likes to read novels, which allow her to enter a fantasy world and “forget the pain of the real world.”
Zhou Ting said that at that time, the national security came to the prison every three months and asked her to sign a notice of withholding travel documents. This became Zhou Ting’s nightmare. Every time she was notified that the national security was coming to visit, Zhou Ting was afraid that they were coming to arrest her. Or prosecute themselves, because if they are prosecuted, they will not be released from prison in the short term, so they live in fear every day.
Zhou Ting said: “In the past few years, the biggest shadow has never been prison or corrections, but national security. When I was in prison, I was always afraid that I would be prosecuted under the National Security Law, which would prevent me from being released from prison.”
Zhou Ting’s YouTube videos are mainly bilingual in Chinese and Japanese. In addition to Hong Kong people, they have also attracted a large number of Japanese fans, and they are hailed as the “Goddess of Hong Kong Democracy” by the Japanese people.
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