Crowds gather in response to the disappearance of five booksellers from Hong Kong, declaring free speech and the ‘One Country Two Systems’ principle is under threat
PUBLISHED : Sunday, 10 January, 2016, 2:34pm
UPDATED : Sunday, 10 January, 2016, 4:24pm
Today’s protest outside the central government Liasion Office in Hong Kong Photo: Phila Siu
Hundreds of people took to the streets of Hong Kong on Sunday over the disappearances of the five missing booksellers, demanding Beijing to uphold the “One Country, Two Systems” principle.
It is the second such protest in a week and indicates a growing unease in Hong Kong over allegations agents from mainland China may have abducted the booksellers and taken them back to China for questioning.
Richard Tsoi, deputy chairman of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, said it is time for Beijing to explain to the Hong Kong people what has happened to the missing booksellers.
“The ‘One Country, Two Systems’ is under threat. It is time for Hong Kong people to come out to defend the city, to defend the freedom we have always enjoyed,” said Tsoi. The alliance is the organiser of the march.
Participants said they took to the street to say no to “white terror”.
“I don’t want to be the next to disappear. Who knows if people who have taken part in the Umbrella Movement will be the next to disappear?” said Billy Wu, 43.
The protesters will march from the Hong Kong government headquarters in Tamar to the central government’s liaison office.
READ MORE: New claim Lee Bo sent a video and a letter to his wife saying his visit to mainland was ‘personal decision’
A protest banner showing the 5 missing Hongkongers from Causeway Books Photo: Phila Siu
Anson Chan Fong On-sang, formerly the city’s second highest-ranking official, also joined the march. “What is at stake is everybody’s personal safety. What has happened to Lee Bo can happen to every one of us,” she said in a statement directed at president Xi Jinping.
“I want particularly to urge President Xi Jinping to honour the promise that he earlier reiterated, which is that the central government will faithfully implement ‘One Country, Two Systems’ and will ensure that (the principle) does not change in substance and shape.”
Benny Tai, co-founder of the Occupy Central movement, said the mainland officials responsible for the disappearances of the booksellers have to be “punished”.
Last month, bookseller Lee Bo of Causeway Bay Books disappeared from a Chai Wai warehouse. The store specialises in books critical of the Chinese Communist Party and was due to publish a book on Chinese president Xi Jinping’s love life before he came to power.
Lee’s wife, Sophie Choi, suspected at the time that mainland agents kidnapped him from Hong Kong, after receiving a phone call from him the day he disappeared with a caller ID from Shenzhen. Lee had also talked to his wife in Mandarin instead of Cantonese, the language the pair usually speak.
Lee’s disappearance has taken a number of dramatic turns, including two letters said to be written by Lee which have drawn suspicion whether Lee was pressured into writing them.
In the weeks before Lee’s disappearance, four of Lee’s associates had gone missing in the mainland or Thailand.
Gui Minhai, owner of Mighty Current, the publishing house that owns the bookstore, went missing while on holiday in Pattaya in November.
Missing person reports were made on three others: bookstore manager Lam Wing-kei; general manager of the publishing house Lui Bo; and business manager, Cheung Jiping.
http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/1899660/vanishing-freedoms-disappearance-bookseller-lee-bo-raises
