- Title: HK activist speaks after deportation from Thailand
- Date: 5th October 2016
- Summary: HONG KONG, CHINA (OCTOBER 5, 2016) (REUTERS) ***WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** STUDENT ACTIVISTS AND POLITICAL PARTY FOUNDERS OF 'DEMOSISTO' JOSHUA WONG, NATHAN LAW AND AGNES CHOW ARRIVING AT NEWS CONFERENCE WONG HOLDING UP THAI DOCUMENT STATING REASONS FOR DEPORTATION (SOUNDBITE) (English) STUDENT ACTIVIST, JOSHUA WONG, SAYING: "I feel hopeless, scared and tired. At that moment actually I just worry whether I would be the next Gui Minhai, or it would be the next incident similar to the Causeway Bay bookseller issue." ACTIVISTS AT NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (English) STUDENT ACTIVIST, JOSHUA WONG, SAYING: "I think Beijing would be the important factor or the motivator for the Thai government to detain me at the airport. I just hope that the Thai government respect democracy, freedom and human rights because it's the trend of the world already." WONG HOLDING UP PHOTOS OF DOCUMENT AND PHOTO OF HIS DETENTION CELL NEWS CONFERENCE
- Embargoed: 20th October 2016 16:16
- Keywords: Hong Kong activist pro-democracy protests Thailand deportation
- Location: HONG KONG, CHINA
- City: HONG KONG, CHINA
- Country: China
- Topics: Crime/Law/Justice
- Reuters ID: LVA00152QCTVP
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:The Hong Kong student activist who helped organise pro-democracy protests in the Chinese-ruled city in 2014, spoke to media on Wednesday (October 5) shortly after being barred from entering Thailand.
Joshua Wong, 19, claimed his detention and deportation was because he had been "blacklisted" at China's request showing reporters a document for reasons of his detention.
Wong referred to the case of five Hong Kong booksellers, specialising in works critical of Chinese leaders, who disappeared only to emerge in custody in mainland China. One of them disappeared while in Thailand and is the only one still in detention.
"I feel hopeless, scared and tired. At that moment actually I just worry whether I would be the next Gui Minhai, or it would be the next incident similar to the Causeway Bay bookseller issue," he said at a news conference.
Suspicion of China's involvement in his expulsion would add to concern in Hong Kong that mainland authorities are clamping down on dissent despite a "one country, two systems" formula, meant to preserve the city's freedoms.
"I think Beijing would be the important factor or the motivator for the Thai government to detain me at the airport. I just hope that the Thai government respect democracy, freedom and human rights because it's the trend of the world already," he added.
Wong was heading to Bangkok where he had been invited to speak at universities about Hong Kong's "Umbrella Movement" street protests and on setting up his political party, Demosisto.
The protests that Wong helped lead in Hong Kong, a former British colony which returned to Chinese rule in 1997, presented Communist Party rulers in Beijing with one of their biggest political headaches in decades.
Thailand has been ruled by a junta since a 2014 coup which was widely condemned by the West. Since then, the generals running Thailand have forged closer ties with China.
Thailand's Nation newspaper quoted a deputy commander of airport immigration police, Colonel Pruthipong Prayoonsiri, as saying China had sent a request "to seek cooperation to deny" Wong entry.
"As a result, the Immigration Bureau blacklisted him and held him for deportation," Pruthipong was quoted as saying.
But Pruthipong later told Reuters he had not spoken to the newspaper, did not know if Wong had been blacklisted and declined further comment.
The Thai Foreign Ministry said, in a statement, permission for Wong to enter Thailand "involves various factors". - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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