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Unemployed Hong Kong man jailed for supporting Uyghurs during rally

Just Earth News | @justearthnews | 21 May 2021, 12:27 am Print

Unemployed Hong Kong man jailed for supporting Uyghurs during rally Hong Kong Activist

Image: World Uyghur Congress Instagram page

Beijing: An unemployed man has been jailed for 28 months for "rioting and assaulting police" after he tried to snatch an arrested protester during a Hong Kong rally in support of China’s Uygur population two years ago, an episode once again showing the way Beijing tries to silence its critics, media reports said.

Leung Ka-wai, 22, on Tuesday pleaded guilty in the District Court over his role in a police-approved rally that descended into chaos after a masked protester took down the Chinese national flag from a pole and flung it to the ground in Edinburgh Place, Central, just after 5 pm on December 22, 2019, read The South China Morning Post.

Police arrived to retrieve the flag and turned to leave as the person responsible had fled, but soon found themselves surrounded by a bigger group, who scolded the officers, according to acting assistant director of public prosecutions Betty Fu Yuet-yee, the newspaper reported.

China has been receiving criticisms from various sections over its treatment towards Uyghurs.

Who are Uyghur Muslims?

Uyghur Muslims are a Turkic minority ethnic group originating from and culturally affiliated with the general region of Central and East Asia. It is now widely publicized that their human rights are crushed by China and they were sent to "re-education camps" by the communist regime in Beijing.

The Uyghurs are recognized as native to the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China.

An American representative at the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination said in 2018 that the committee had received many credible reports that 1 million ethnic Uyghurs in China have been held in "re-education camps" by the Chinese authorities.