Twenty-eight days since the disappearance of late dissident Liu Xiaobo’s widow, a group of protesters gathered in Kowloon on Saturday to demand Liu Xia’s release.
The protest also came a day after a Democratic Party member alleged that he was abducted by mainland law enforcement officials as a warning against making contact with Liu
Around 10 protesters marched from Chow Tai Fook Commercial Building to the Bank of China branch on Nathan Road holding “missing-person” notices.
Lee Cheuk-yan, secretary of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China, said that there was an urgent need to find Liu, whose family have raised concerns about her health.
Liu Xiaobo, a Chinese dissident known for co-writing the democratic manifesto “Charter 08” was sentenced to 11 years in prison in 2009 for “subversion.” He died of liver cancer on July 13 at a hospital in northeast China whilst on medical parole. His wife, a poet, has been under house arrest since 2010. Chinese doctors said that Liu Xia was by her husband’s side when he died, and she was seen at his funeral in Shenyang on July 15. Her whereabouts since then remain unknown.
See more: Liu Xia, widow of Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo, missing for 26 days
The protesters taped “missing-person” notices on the wall of the bank.
“We are coming to the Chinese bank because this is a symbol of the Chinese government,” said Lee. “We want to send a message to Xi Jinping that Hongkongers are still looking for Liu Xia, are still demanding that freedom be returned to Liu Xia.”
.@HKA1989 pasting “missing person” notice for #LiuXia at Bank of China branch in Mong Kok pic.twitter.com/YgzHlSsvWG
— Kris Cheng (@krislc) August 12, 2017
When asked about the impact of the alleged abduction of a Democratic Party member at the hands of mainland enforcement officials on Thursday, Lee told HKFP: “The beating up of Howard Lam is trying to threaten the people of Hong Kong and today, our action is to tell those violence perpetrators that we are not fearful of what they have done, and we will continue to be persistent in our demand for the release of Liu Xia and the freedom of Liu Xia.”
@HKA1989 Lee Cheuk-yan: “Our action is to tell those violence perpetuators that we are not fearful of what they have done” pic.twitter.com/wlEFeg2Loo
— stay at home (@hyjpang) August 12, 2017
“I think it’s very important for the people of Hong Kong not to be frightened and threatened by this violent action of some mainlander or, we don’t know, whoever who are responsible for the violence towards Howard Lam,” said Lee.
Additional reporting: Kris Cheng.
