Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong encourages Thai new generation to fight the government

Record ID: 84561

  • Title: Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong encourages Thai new generation to fight the government
  • Date: 6th October 2016
  • Summary: PHONE SHOWING NEWS FEED ON JOSHUA WONG
  • Embargoed: 21st October 2016 16:18
  • Keywords: Thailand Hong Kong human rights violation activist Joshua Wong
  • Location: BANGKOK,THAILAND
  • City: BANGKOK,THAILAND
  • Country: Thailand
  • Topics: Government/Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA00252VCDVR
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: AUDIO AS INCOMING
    Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong encouraged Thailand's new generation on Thursday (October 6) to fight the government as he held a live speech on Skype one day after he was banned from entering the country.
    Wong, who had been due to speak at an event on the anniversary of a Thai military crackdown on student protests 40 years ago, was detained and later put on a plane back to Hong Kong, where he told reporters Thai authorities had not given him a reason for refusing him entry but had shown him a document citing a security law.
    Wong, 19, was given 80 hours of community service by a Hong Kong court in August on a charge of unlawful assembly for taking part in a sit-in at the height of the protests in the Asian financial hub in September 2014.
    The sit-in led by Wong and others in front of the Hong Kong government headquarters two years ago became the rallying point for the "Umbrella Movement" that blocked major roads in the Chinese-ruled city for 79 days.
    The protests in the former British colony, which returned to Chinese rule in 1997, presented Communist Party rulers in Beijing with one of their biggest political challenges in decades.
    Wong still managed to give a 30-minute long live speech over Skype about the uprising in Hong Kong despite his arrest.
    "Even young high school students, or young people who don't have a lot of experience and professional knowledge but with courage, commitment and persistence, we can still create miracle. And let a government learn lesson," he told the audience, without mentioning the arrest in his speech.
    Several students commented they were happy to hear him despite it being over Skype.
    "It's still good to listen to him, to listen to what he has to say to us. At least we have technology to communicate with him without him actually being here," said 20 year-old Pattarapakorn Booncharoen as she left the site.
    "I'm disappointed (that he couldn't come) because he, in my opinion, is a democracy idol for our younger generation. He inspires people of my generation on how to handle Thailand's current situation," said 21 year-old Tornthep Maneecharoen.
    A Thai army crackdown on students on Oct. 6, 1976, killed 46 people and brought back military rule.
    Since coming into power in 2014, Thailand's military government has clamped down on dissent, arresting scores of students and activists.
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