Hongkongers and allies demonstrated in Taiwan this afternoon to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the 2019 protests in Hong Kong. This was termed “Freedom June.” The protest was bookended by rain at its start and beginning, with heavy rain warnings issued across Taiwan today...
Hongkongers rallied outside of the Ximen MRT station in Taipei today in response to the passage of Article 23. The passage of Article 23 of the Hong Kong Basic Law serves to criminalize sedition, but does so under such wide-ranging and unspecified terms that it is thought this will serve as a means of further criminalizing political freedoms in Hong Kong. The demonstration against Article 23 of the Hong Kong Basic Law today takes place as part of a global day of action...
A silent protest took place outside of the Ximen MRT last month on April 16th to call attention to the plight of the 47 defendants in what is Hong Kong’s largest national security trial to date. The protest began at 2 PM and lasted until 4 PM...
The deterioration of what is left of electoral democracy continues in Hong Kong, with plans by the Hong Kong government to decrease the number of directly elected district councilor seats from over 90% to around 20%. Despite this, the Mainland Affairs Council may move forward with plans to increase the barriers for Hongkongers seeking to obtain permanent residency in Taiwan...
A report by Hong Kong’s Ming Pao last week stated that at least two current pro-democracy Hong Kong district councilors and several former Hong Kong district councilors have not heard any answer from the Taiwanese government when applying for visas to visit Taiwan, or had their applications rejected. This occurred despite that these district councilors were not intending to flee to Taiwan for asylum, were only hoping to travel with friends and family to Taiwan to vacation, see friends, and sightseeing, and some had successfully entered Taiwan as recently as 2021...
The largest national security trial to date in Hong Kong started on Monday, with 47 defendants standing trial over charges of “conspiracy to commit subversion", with the act of subversion being directed at the state. The trial is over the defendants’ participation in or involvement in organizing primaries for pro-democracy candidates in Hong Kong LegCo elections...
Five members of a speech therapists’ union were sentenced t in Hong Kong earlier this month on sedition charges over a series of children’s books. The charges used by police date back to British colonial times and the five have been sentenced to nineteen months in prison...
Hong Kong held its first “patriots-only” election for the Legislative Council (LegCo) yesterday in an election that was marked by record low turnout. The election only saw 30.2% participation, or 1.35 million ballots cast. This was nearly half of the turnout in 2016, when LegCo elections were last held, which saw 58% turnout...
Groups rallied today in front of the legislature to call attention to the Chinese government’s authoritarianism and to call on the Taiwanese government to take stronger action for Hongkongers in need of assistance. The rally took place today because October 1st is Chinese National Day...
