HK independence activist attacks China in speech at press club
HONG KONG: Activist Andy Chan has attacked China as an empire trying to "annex" and "destroy" the city in a fiery speech yesterday at the city's press club.
In comments that will incense Chinese authorities, Mr Chan, who leads the tiny Hong Kong National Party, said Beijing was semi-autonomous Hong Kong's "colonial master".
"We are a nation that is quickly being annexed and destroyed by China," Mr Chan told a packed Foreign Correspondents' Club (FCC).
He said he had been under increased "surveillance" by strangers, who had been following him and knocking on his family's door to take pictures of them leading up to the speech.
Hong Kong enjoys freedom of speech and assembly under a handover agreement between Britain and China.
But Beijing is increasingly intolerant of any mention of independence for Hong Kong.
Rival protesters gathered outside the FCC, with pro-independence activists clashing with police, saying they were given no space for their rally, while dozens of pro-Beijing supporters chanted slogans including "Gas the spies!"
The lunch address drew objections from China's Foreign Ministry and Hong Kong's leader Carrie Lam, as fears grow that freedom of speech in the semi-autonomous city is increasingly under attack.
The Hong Kong government said yesterday that while it backs freedom of speech and the press, it "deeply regrets" the event since advocating independence contravened the city's mini-Constitution. - AFP
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