A group of students has staged a small protest demanding that the junta send student activist Joshua Wong safely back to Hong Kong. The prominent activist is expected to arrive in Hong Kong this afternoon.
On 5 October 2016, Netiwit Chotiphatphaisal, together with other students from Chulalongkorn University, held a protest demanding that the junta release 19-year-old student activist Joshua Wong, a key leader of Hong Kong’s Umbrella Movement and Secretary-General of the Demosistō Party. The protesters urged the junta to send him safely back to Hong Kong.
In the rain, over 10 students with umbrellas in their hands gathered in front of the Faculty of Political Science and repeatedly shouted “Joshua Wong has rights to be here.”
Wong was invited to the Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University, to give a talk on politics of the new generation at an event commemorating the 40th anniversary of the 6 October massacre of over a hundred pro-democracy students and bystanders at Thammasat University in 1976 by military and paramilitary forces.
As a key organizer of the event, Netiwit told the media that the 6 October event is purely for academic purposes without any political agenda. The junta, therefore, should allow Wong to join the event for the sake of intellectual freedom.
“Too much intimacy between the government and Chinese government might lead to a lack of academic knowledge [because] we’re only allowed to talk in a certain way,” said Netiwit “The new generations want a future and Joshua Wong is trying to build a small future in Hong Kong. We want that [future]. But even though we cannot get it, we want to express that ‘Joshua Wong has rights to be here”
He also added that the protesters carried umbrellas in order to show their solidarity with Wong who was a key leader of the Umbrella Revolution.
The 19-year-old activist will arrive in Hong Kong at about 3:45 pm local time, according to a statement posted online by the Demosisto Party, of which he is a leader.
Chulalongkorn students protes in front of the Faculty of Political Science (Photo from Fahroong Srikhao's Facebook)
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