On August 6 several democracy activists were refused entry into Hong Kong, including Yang Jianli, president of Initiatives for China, Wang Min, president of Allied Federation for Chinese Democracy and Zhou Jian, president of Autonomous Alliance of Chinese Scholars and Students in America.
Yang Jianli was detained once he arrived at the Hong Kong airport at 1:00 p.m. yesterday. He was there to attend the “Gong Min Walk,” an event aimed at empowering Hong Kong’s citizenry. “If Hong Kong was really a free territory, I would not have any trouble gaining entry,” he said in a telephone interview.
According to Yang, only two activists were known to have been allowed entry among the dozen or so trying to enter the territory. Two members of Hong Kong’s Legislative Council, Albert Ho and Leung Kwok-hung approached the Immigration Department, demanding that authorities give a reasonable explanation for their actions.
Since Zhang Xiaogang, supervisor and acting president of the Federation for Democratic China (Australia), was allowed to enter Hong Kong at 5:00 a.m., he waited in the airport in vain for fellow activists. He blames the Hong Kong government for denying entry to his colleagues and said that the territory’s “One country, two systems” policy was no longer being upheld.
