HK activists demand release of Shandong lawyers

HK activists demand release of Shandong lawyers

Albert Ho talks to RTHK's Wong Yin-ting

Dozens of Hong Kong activists rallied outside Beijing's liaison office on Friday, calling for the immediate release of five human rights lawyers who have been detained in Shandong since December 26.



The activists, including some from the Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China, said around 20 people, including the lawyers were arrested after attending a private meeting which discussed current affairs and the future of the country.



Police arrested many of those at the meeting and charged them with subversion, picking quarrels and other charges, the demonstrators said.



The five lawyers, arrested soon after Christmas, are still being held and have not been allowed to contact anyone including their own lawyers, they said.



The alliance members marched from Western Police Station to the liaison office to demand the immediate release of the five.



The chairman of the alliance, Albert Ho, said they are very concerned about the five as some of the protesters held in a similar manner before were tortured by the authorities.



Ho told RTHK's Wong Yin-ting that China has been doing a lot of illegal things to suppress dissent.