Hong Kong // Hong Kong student pro-democracy leader Joshua Wong was among five protesters detained yesterday after they tried to intercept the motorcade of a top Chinese official during a highly-charged visit to the city.
Their attempt came on the final day of a three-day trip by Zhang Dejiang, who chairs China’s communist-controlled legislature, where frustrated protesters have been kept out of sight behind barricades in a security lockdown.
Mr Zhang’s visit, the first by such a senior official for four years, came as concerns grow that freedoms are under threat in semi-autonomous Hong Kong as China tightens its grip.
Police chased the group of five protesters as they ran along a major motorway in eastern Hong Kong which had been cleared for Mr Zhang, with Mr Wong carrying a sign calling for “self-determination”. The group were detained before Mr Zhang’s motorcade emerged from the motorway tunnel.
The protesters were all members of Demosisto, a political party led by Mr Wong, who became the face of major pro-democracy rallies in 2014.
A video posted on the party’s Facebook page showed the group being chased on foot and pinned to the ground by traffic police.
Hong Kong police had no immediate comment.
* Agence-France Presse