March for freedom

last updated 8 January 2015

Hong Kong

Tens of thousands of people demonstrated in Hong Kong this week against proposed laws that would drastically limit free speech. When Hong Kong switched from British to Chinese rule in 1997, it was supposed to retain most of its autonomy, including its British traditions of due process and a free press. But Tung Chee-hwa, the governor appointed by Beijing, has introduced laws that define treason and sedition so vaguely, critics say, that the normal practice of journalism could draw a sentence of life in prison. Former deputy governor Anson Chan Fang On-sang, the last executive to be appointed by Britain, told the South China Morning Post that she was proud of the protest. “Hong Kong people must continue to have the courage to speak up,” Chan said.