- Title: Joshua Wong's party not surprised about Thailand detention
- Date: 5th October 2016
- Summary: HONG KONG, CHINA (OCTOBER 5, 2016) (REUTERS) VAN STOPPING ON STREET NEAR OFFICE OF HONG KONG POLITICAL PARTY "DEMOSISTO" (SOUNDBITE) (English) DEPUTY SECRETARY GENERAL OF JOSHUA WONG'S POLITICAL PARTY "DEMOSISTO", AGNES CHOW, SAYING: "Although Thailand is saying, although Thailand has a voting, somehow democratic voting system, but if the government is - if the government chooses to keep a good relationship with the Chinese Communist Party in front of human rights, we will be very disappointed." DEPUTY SECRETARY GENERAL OF JOSHUA WONG'S POLITICAL PARTY "DEMOSISTO", AGNES CHOW'S HANDS CLASPED (SOUNDBITE) (English) DEPUTY SECRETARY GENERAL OF JOSHUA WONG'S POLITICAL PARTY "DEMOSISTO", AGNES CHOW, SAYING: "We actually have, kind or, have a mental preparation that Joshua might be rejected to enter Thailand, but we believe that we still have to, still have the responsibility to tell to the international world, to tell to the civil society in Thailand, or tell to the young people in Thailand, that what Hong Kong people are facing now, and how should we overcome these kinds of difficulties in front of an authoritarian regime." TRAFFIC, PEOPLE ON STREET
- Embargoed: 20th October 2016 07:46
- Keywords: Thailand Joshua Wong Demosisto detention
- Location: HONG KONG, CHINA
- City: HONG KONG, CHINA
- Country: Hong Kong
- Topics: Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA00152Q9GZP
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: A spokesperson for Hong Kong student activist Joshua Wong's political party 'Demosisto' said on Wednesday (October 5) that they had already mentally prepared for him to be barred from entering Thailand before his trip.
"We actually have, kind or, have a mental preparation that Joshua might be rejected to enter Thailand," said Agnes Chow, the deputy secretary general of Demosisto. "But we believe that we still have to, still have the responsibility to tell to the international world, to tell to the civil society in Thailand, or tell to the young people in Thailand, that what Hong Kong people are facing now."
Bespectacled Wong, 19, was detained on Wednesday in Bangkok where he had been invited to speak at two universities about Hong Kong's "Umbrella Movement" street protests in 2014, which he helped organise, and on setting up Demosisto.
He was later put on a plane back to Hong Kong.
Wong also said in a Facebook post on Tuesday (October 4) night that he was concerned about his trip to Bangkok. His supporters say China was behind his detention.
The protests in Hong Kong presented Communist Party rulers in Beijing with one of their biggest political headaches in decades, and Wong 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 their height.
Thailand has been ruled by a junta since a 2014 coup which was widely condemned by the West. Since then, the military has clamped down on dissent, banned political protests, and forged closer ties with Beijing.
The Thai Foreign Ministry said in a statement permission for Wong to enter Thailand "involves various factors".
Wong was also denied entry by Malaysia in May 2015 when he was due to give a series of talks on democracy in China. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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