Protest calling for democracy in Hong Kong to be held in Edinburgh

The Edinburgh march is the first of its kind and is organised by Democracy for Hong Kong in Scotland.

The group is predominantly made up of students and ex-pats from the region, where more than 5000 people have been arrested in connection with political protests since June.

Footage of violent clashes between police and unarmed protestors has been seen worldwide and this week it emerged that a schoolboy aged just 12 is the youngest person to be convicted of an offence connected to the demonstrations.

The youngster was arrested last month while making his way to school on the day after a protest and is said to have admitted spray-painting slogans on a police and metro station.

This week Hong Kong’s Polytechnic University was the scene of a violent siege in which activists threw Molotov cocktails at police who were firing tear gas and rubber bullets.

Dr Chak Ip, who is a convenor of Democracy for Hong Kong in Scotland, says the police reaction has helped the world learn about the “suppression” of the public in his homeland.

The junior doctor came to Scotland to study and currently has no plans to return.

However, he fears that activism here could compromise his ability to do so in the future, and believes Beijing authorities are monitoring the work of his and similar groups.

But the 25-year-old says taking a stand in public is the only way to bring international pressure to bear on the Chinese government.

He told The National: “There is definitely a risk.

“We want to make noise to allow people to know and care about Hong Kong because when the people care, hopefully the governments will care.

“There have already been debates and motions in the Scottish Government and in the UK Government, before the election period.

“We need high-level political support and action.”

The group held a protest in Edinburgh in August and another in Glasgow in October, both of which were met by pro-Chinese government counter-demonstrations.

The march, which will begin at St Giles Cathedral, is the first procession held by the “grassroots” group, which organises via China’s popular WeChat app.

Ip expects supporters of the Chinese government will again turn out to oppose them and claims many have been “misled” by the authorities about the situation in Hong Kong.

He said: “In China, they have said that we are demanding independence. Independence is not our aim, our demand is for freedom and democracy as it is promised in the law.”

One such demand, the withdrawal of an extradition bill which would have allowed some criminal suspects to be sent to mainland China, has already been met.

Others include amnesty for arrested protesters, an inquiry into the actions of police and the implementation of complete universal suffrage.

A ban on the wearing of face masks by protestors has been deemed unlawful by a Hong Kong court and tomorrow those in Edinburgh are expected to don the accessories in solidarity with those affected.

Ip commented: “In Hong Kong there are people being beaten up on the streets. I was there in the summer and took part in some of the protests, though not on the front line.

“We wanted to do something in Edinburgh to show our support.”

China’s National People’s Congress has said that “no other authority has the right to make judgments and decisions” about its actions.