On April 4, 2024, a British Hongkonger group “Birmingham HongKongers” organized a three-day “Same but Different—Cultural Exhibition” in downtown Birmingham as part of the Hong Kong March event. However, they suspected there was an incursion by the “little pinks (CCP advocates)” who complained and put pressure on the venue owner, urging the event organizer to shield all “politically sensitive” content. The organizer later complained to the local government that the incident involved political suppression.
Robert Chiu, the person in charge of the event, said that on the opening day, April 4, one middle-aged Chinese woman strode to the event venue, took pictures of the contents on display, and then left. A few hours later, the organizer learned that the management of Rag Market, the venue for the exhibits, had received a complaint that requested the content on one of the racks be shielded on the grounds that “it contained politically sensitive words and violated the venue’s general principle of political neutrality.”
