Arab News Japan

TOKYO: About 100 people opposed to China’s government demonstrated in Tokyo’s bustling Shibuya district on Saturday.

A day after the 25th anniversary of the return of Hong Kong to China, Hong Kong, Chinese, Taiwanese and Japanese opponents denounced the repression of political opponents, and the strict security laws and restrictions on free speech in Hong Kong.  

Participating organizations included the Tibetan community in Japan, Students for a Free Tibet Japan, the Japan Uyghur Association and the the Asia Free Democratic Solidarity Council

Their protests came alongside statements from human rights organizations like Amnesty International who have denouncedthe appointment of John Lee, the former director of security during the crackdown on the “umbrella” movement, as governor of Hong Kong to replace Carrie Lam. 

China said it would recognize the law and freedom of opinion in Hong Kong, but Carrie Lam, under pressure from Beijing, passed a security law appended to the Basic Law that condemns acts of sedition and subversion and “foreign interference.”

This bill triggered many demonstrations which were violently repressed and stirred up opposition between separatists and communist supporters.

China President Xi Jinping visited Hong Kong for the anniversary of the handover.

In a statement in Japanese, the protesters accused China of “ethnic genocide” and the colonization of Tibet, South Mongoliaand Stan (Uighur). It added: “Democratic students and citizens who wanted to realize a free society as well as an economy were slaughtered by the military in the 1989 Tiananmen Square Incident.”

Regarding present-day affairs, the statement read: “Hong Kong is now violently suppressed. … The Chinese Communist Party’s era is just a history of repression and genocide.”