Hong Kong Immigration has denied entry to Tiananmen Massacre survivor Zhou Fengsuo.

The activist told HKFP that he intended to take part in the annual July 1 pro-democracy march, but was not allowed to enter the city after his Cathay Pacific flight from the US landed on Sunday morning.

Zhou Fengsuo
Photo: Zhou Fengsuo.

He said that he was injured during a physical altercation as the authorities attempted to force him back on to a flight to the US, where he lives in exile: “[A]bout seven police forced me into a wheelchair, pushed me hard down while I tried to free myself. One bending my hand, two holding my arm, from each side. I was in acute pain, cried out ‘Ahh, police violence’ then they stopped.”

Zhou instead boarded a flight to Taiwan, where he arrived mid-afternoon on Sunday.

The Immigration Department told HKFP it would not comment on individual cases.

See also: The Tiananmen Massacre, 30 years on – Survivor Q&A: Zhou Fengsuo

The 1989 massacre ended months of student-led demonstrations in China as the military was deployed to suppress protesters in Beijing. It is estimated that hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people died.

Zhou was a fourth-year physics student at the Tsinghua University in 1989. He became a student leader of the Beijing Autonomous University Students Union during the movement and now lives in exile in the US. Zhou had previously worked in finance and currently serves as the president of the group Humanitarian China.


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Tom is the editor-in-chief and founder of Hong Kong Free Press. He has a BA in Communications and New Media from Leeds University and an MA in Journalism from the University of Hong Kong. He has contributed to the BBC, Euronews, Al-Jazeera and others.