Hong Kong pro-democracy activists who scaled the Golden Bauhinia statue on Wednesday evening have complained of receiving continuous nuisance calls during the protest, which prevented them from communicating using their mobile phones.
The League of Social Democrats (LSD)’s Avery Ng – one of the last to be arrested from the symbolic Wanchai tourist site – posted a photo on Facebook showing that he received at least nine anonymous calls between 7:15pm and 7:16pm.
Posted by 吳文遠 on Wednesday, 28 June 2017
HK01 reported that legislator Nathan Law and LSD activists Raphael Wong and Figo Chan also received many anonymous calls that evening while they surrounded the statue.
A screenshot taken by Wong showed he received eight calls between 7:47pm and 7:51pm, while Chan’s screenshot showed he received 11 calls between 7:36pm and 7:46pm.
Writing on Facebook during the protest, Ng said: “I’m getting an unknown call every second, and can hardly use my phone. Several LSD members are getting the same thing on their phones!”
The protest began around 5pm when 26 activists from the LSD, People Power, Demosisto, and Student Fight for Democracy surrounded the Golden Bauhinia. They called for universal suffrage and the release of jailed Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo, who is currently on medical parole following a diagnosis of terminal stage cancer.
Some protesters chained themselves to the Golden Bauhinia statue, but police removed and arrested them for causing a public nuisance several hours later.
As of Thursday morning, they are still being held at the North Point Police Station.
The protest came on the eve of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s arrival in Hong Kong. He will stay until Saturday – the 20th anniversary of the city’s transfer of sovereignty.
