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TAIPEI: Hundreds of people demonstrated in the Taiwanese capital on Sunday (October 25) to demand that China release 12 Hong Kong people arrested at sea by mainland Chinese authorities in part of a global campaign to support the movement. protest in the financial center.
The 12 were arrested on Aug. 23 for alleged illegal entry into mainland China after setting sail from Hong Kong on a ship bound for democratic Taiwan, amid a Beijing offensive against activists in the former British colony.
The Hong Kong Security Office has said the 12 were suspected of crimes, including the manufacture or possession of explosives, arson and rioting in Hong Kong.
READ: Hong Kong leader says 12 arrested by China at sea are not ‘oppressed democratic activists’
Many protesters wore black shirts, some holding signs demanding the “immediate release” of the 12 and others waving yellow umbrellas, a symbol of the Hong Kong protest movement.
“We want the Chinese Communist Party to know that the whole world is paying attention to the 12 people so that they cannot act unfairly,” said Roger, a front-line protester in Hong Kong’s sometimes violent demonstrations who fled to Taiwan last year. past. He asked that his full name not be used.
“Attention for Hong Kong is waning. We need to go out and support Hong Kongers,” he told Reuters at the Taipei rally, part of a campaign for the 12 people in 35 cities around the world. An online rally is scheduled in Hong Kong on Sunday night.
READ: China May Not Recognize Hong Kong Passports Issued By The British
Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam has said the 12 will have to face justice on the mainland and that her government will provide “necessary and feasible” assistance.
Ten of them were out on bail and were not allowed to leave Hong Kong, authorities said.
READ: Relatives accuse Hong Kong government of lying about surveillance of detainees
READ: Relatives of 12 Hong Kong people arrested by China demand access for their own lawyers
Taiwan shares with the Hong Kong protesters a deep dislike for Beijing, which considers Taiwan its territory and has never renounced the use of force to bring the island under its control.
Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen became the first global government leader in May to promise measures to help Hong Kong residents who are leaving due to what they see as a tightening of Chinese controls.
However, the protesters’ flight has piled up pressure on the Taiwanese government and strained its already poor ties with Beijing, which has intensified military activities near Taiwan.
At least a dozen more activists have arrived in Taiwan by boat, Reuters reported in September, citing multiple sources with knowledge of the matter.
