MCLC: HK march for Snowden

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: kirk (denton.2 at osu.edu)
Subject: HK march for Snowden
***********************************************************

Source: NYT (6/15/13):
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/16/world/asia/demonstrators-march-for-snowde
n-in-hong-kong.html

Demonstrators March for Snowden in Hong Kong
By KEITH BRADSHER

HONG KONG — Chanting slogans like “Shame, U.S. government,” demonstrators
marched from a downtown park to the United States Consulate nearby to urge
that Edward J. Snowden, a former National Security Agency contractor
accused of leaking documents about United States surveillance programs, be
allowed to remain in Hong Kong and protected from American law enforcement
officials.

One of the protest’s organizers, Tom Grundy, a British expatriate, called
on China and the United States to refrain from pressuring Hong Kong about
Mr. Snowden’s status in Hong Kong. “We want an independent judiciary to
decide on the case,” he said.

Hong Kong, which was rule by Britain until its return to China in 1997,
retains a rule of law and court system that is widely respected for its
independence. Some activists, however, have criticized recent court
appointees as having more pro-Beijing connections than their predecessors.

In his first comment on Mr. Snowden’s case, Hong Kong’s chief executive,
Leung Chun-ying, indicated Saturday that Hong Kong would follow
established procedures if it is asked to surrender Mr. Snowden to the
United States. He also indicated that the Hong Kong government would look
into Mr. Snowden’s disclosure that the National Security Agency might have
gained covert access to the main hub of Internet servers here, located at
the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

“When the relevant mechanism is activated, the Hong Kong S.A.R. Government
will handle the case of Mr. Snowden in accordance with the laws and
established procedures of Hong Kong,” Mr. Leung said in a statement, using
the acronym for Hong Kong’s status as a special administrative region of
China. “Meanwhile, the government will follow up on any incidents related
to the privacy or other rights of the institutions or people in Hong Kong
being violated.”

Though the protest was small — organizers said about 900 showed up, but
police said it was more like 300 — it underlined the political maneuvering
set off by Mr. Snowden’s arrival here. He has disclosed classified
documents about the United States government’s monitoring of the Internet
in the United States and in mainland China and Hong Kong.

Saturday’s march was organized by more than two dozen groups advocating
free speech, democracy and personal liberties on the Internet. Many of the
groups, including the Democratic Party of Hong Kong, have long been
outspoken critics of Beijing for restricting individual liberties.

“He should be given the right to stay in Hong Kong,” Albert Ho, a former
chairman of the Democratic Party, said in a speech at the start of the
rally. “We must not let anybody intervene — we must be able to show that
Hong Kong will not give in to pressure from other governments.”

In the last two days, the state news media in mainland China have embraced
Mr. Snowden and confirmed details to The South China Morning Post, a Hong
Kong newspaper, about how the United States monitors Internet traffic on
the mainland and in Hong Kong.

The official China Daily newspaper usually ignores pro-democracy activists
in Hong Kong, or derides them. But the lead story on its front page on
Saturday described calls by democracy advocates in the legislature that
Mr. Snowden not be sent back to the United States, and it discussed the
planned demonstration too.

Martin Lee, the founding chairman of the Democratic Party, said the
Chinese government engages in far more extensive monitoring of phone calls
and Internet activity in Hong Kong than the United States government does.

And unlike the United States, the Chinese government has been willing to
leak personal details of people’s lives to the news media to punish them
for not toeing the line politically, he said.

Many democracy activists have criticized the Chinese government’s
extensive surveillance programs, and in turn have been accused of
disloyalty to Beijing. So confirmation of the United States’ monitoring
programs has given Hong Kong activists a chance to show that they
criticize anyone who engages in any form of surveillance, Mr. Lee, who did
not attend the rally, said in a telephone interview.

“Some of those marching outside the Consulate may be doing it so as not to
be accused of being inconsistent,” he said.

China Daily gave the most prominent position on its opinion page on
Saturday to excerpts from a pro-Beijing newspaper in Hong Kong asserting
that Mr. Snowden’s disclosures had damaged the standing of democracy
advocates and their admiration for the United States. “The latest leaks
have put the local rights politicians in a rather awkward position by
exposing their idol’s true character,” the column said.

Mr. Snowden has some committed supporters here. Dozens of protesters held
banners in a light rain before the event began, and more arrived as the
rain stopped.

“Snowden is being persecuted by a huge institution,” the United States
government, said Marcus Ho, a retiree who said that he seldom attended
rallies. “We must do something to help.”

The Consulate issued a safety warning this week urging Americans to stay
away from the Consulate during the march, which proved peaceful. American
consulates and embassies around the world, including the one here,
routinely issue such alerts before local demonstrations, even when the
gatherings are not directly related to American policy.

Calvin Yang contributed reporting.