Taiwan | Hong Kong pro-democracy activist narrowly avoids assault

Joshua Wong

Hong Kong  activist, Joshua Wong, has had his police protection heightened during his visit to Taiwan after a pro-China demonstrator attempted to assault him as he arrived on the island.

Wong, who was joined on his visit to Taiwan by Hong Kong legislators, was harassed as he exited Taipei’s Taoyuan International Airport in the early hours of Saturday morning by a group of around 200 protestors, according to reports from the South China Morning Post. He was in Taiwan to attend a seminar organized by Taiwan’s New Power Party, which is advocating for recognition of Taiwan as a nation.

The protesters criticized Wong and legislators Nathan Law and Edward Yiu for being “independence scum” and chanted that they were not welcome in the island state.

Then one protestor broke through police lines and tried to physically assault Wong, who was narrowly escorted out of the vicinity and into a police vehicle.

According to SCMP, the young Hong Kong lactivist said that this was the first time he had been subject to such an incident, despite numerous trips to Taiwan in the past in which he met with members of the political party.

After the seminar, another crowd had gathered to voice their opinion on the activists. Standing behind dozens of police officers, the protestors alleged that independence activists in Hong Kong and Taiwan were cooperating to further their respective aims.

Although Taiwanese authorities said that the police protection had been increased following the airport incident, Wong told SCMP that he and the lawmakers had not been notified of any additional security outside of the public events.

Wong was a key figure in the 2014 Umbrella Movement in Hong Kong, who contributed to the assembling of thousands of activists in large-scale pro-democracy rallies. DB