A group of protesters marched on Wednesday to the US Consulate General to voice their opposition to US President Donald Trump’s immigration ban.
Trump signed an executive order on Friday banning travellers from seven Muslim countries, suspending all admission of refugees for 120 days and banning Syrian refugees indefinitely.
The protest in Hong Kong was organised by the League of Social Democrats, along with the Justice and Peace Commission of the Hong Kong Catholic Diocese, Migrant Workers Group and led by legislator Leung Kwok-hung.
The group chanted “no human being is illegal,” “targeting Muslims is shameless,” “Muslim ban, go to hell,” and “down down, Donald Trump.”
Despite warnings from police officers present that they were participating in an unregistered gathering, the group pressed on and delivered a letter to a representative from the Consulate urging the president to drop the ban. Organisers said 30 people attended.
Eman Villanueva, spokesperson from the Asian Migrants’ Coordinating Body (AMCB), told HKFP: “This is one way also to express our solidarity with our fellow migrants and immigrants and refugees, and also to show the people in the United States that they are not alone in this fight.”
“To show that people, wherever we are, we are against hatred, we are against racism and xenophobia, the Muslims are our brothers and sisters, they are not the ones who are causing the crisis and unemployment in the United States, it is the greed of those corporations that are now backing Trump, so why punish them?”
“We just want to show the global community, the international community, that we will not let this pass, that we will not just watch and sit down.”
A spokesperson from the Justice and Peace Commission of the Hong Kong Catholic Diocese urged Hongkongers not to blame social problems in the city – such as housing shortages – on new immigrants or ethnic minorities.
“The real solution to social problems needs a truly democratic political system, and is not to blame these problems on vulnerable social groups.”
Organisers said a second march is to take place on Sunday. They are expecting hundreds of people to attend.
Trump’s executive order set off protests at major international airports and public areas across the US and around the world.
Governments around the world also criticised the measures, with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French Foreign minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, and British Foreign minister Boris Johnson, and the Arab League expressing disapproval.
China’s foreign ministry responded to the travel bans in a statement on Monday that said immigration policy was a sovereign right, but “at the same time, relevant moves must also consider the reasonable concerns of relevant countries.”
