[gipfelsoli] Hong Kong

[gipfelsoli-l at lists.nadir.org]

From: Dae-oup Chang

Dear Freinds

Hope that you're having a peaceful Christmas and new years.

In Hong Kong, struggle to release the 14 detainees continues. Although they have
been bailed out and are in a much better condition now, we are askng HK
government to drop all the charges and let them go back to their own countries,
so that they can spend the new years day with their loved ones and families. So
far, showing no sign of dropping charges, the HK police keep repeating that
they will be treated according to Hong Kong law.

In Hong Kong, there will be more action on 29th and 30th. On 29th, we will march
from HSBC building, Central to Central Government office. It will start at 4PM.
We will deliver protest statement and peititions from the family members of the
HK14 to the chief excutive. After the march, we will again gather in the Tsiam
Sha Tsui Star Ferry (near the flag poles) at 7PM for candlelight vigil. On
30th, we have protest in front of Kwuntong court, supporting the detainees in
trial, from the noon time.

Since 22nd December, a lot of friends in different countries and international
organisations, such as Korea, Thailand, Belgium, Indonesia, Austrailia, New
Zealand, US, UK, IUF, UNI and many others, have participated in protest action
and sent condemnation letter to the hk government and police. Please continue
to do so. International pressure will help the hk 14 to be released without
charge.

the following is protest letter from HKPA.

Cheers
Dae-oup



Dear friends,

Below is the letter from Elizabeth Tang, the Chairperson of the HKPA. Please
sign on the letter to pressure the HK government to release the 14 protesters
without any condition.

Thank you for your attention and looking forward to your reply soon.

In solidarity,
Khai Loon

------------------attachment ---------------------------------

Dear friends,

The 14 protestors are now being released on bail until December 30 in Hong Kong.
According to the prosecutor, the police has asked for more time to wade through
all their videotapes and photos to identify more evidence as they are
considering to add more serious charges onto the 14 protestors. Therefore it is
very important for us to keep the pressure on to demand for their release before
the upcoming trial on December 30.

Please sign on the following letter soonest. Please also invite all those you
know to sign on. We need to have many people or organizations signing on to
make this letter powerful.

Meanwhile the Taiwanese protestor has returned to Taiwan after paying an
additional cash surety of HKD100,000. The other 13 are residing at a local
church. The HKPA together with a number of other organizations are helping to
fundraise to cover their needs for their stay in Hong Kong. There will be a
demonstration on December 29 at the Central Government Office before the trial
on the following day.

In solidarity,
Elizabeth Tang, for the HKPA

Letter to Donald Tsang, the Chief Executive of Hong Kong

December 26, 2005

The Honourable
Donald Tsang Yam-kuen
Chief Executive
Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
Peopleâs Republic of China

Dear Mr. Tsang

Appeal for the Release of MC6 Protesters in Hong Kong

We are deeply concerned about the 14 protestors currently released on bail in
Hong Kong and are still facing charges of unlawful assembly. Furthermore we
understand that they may face more serious charges such as that of assaulting
police when they attend trial on December 30th.

These 14 protestors were just amongst many others who took part in the
demonstration on December 17th. Knowing that the MC6 had just 2 days to end and
no concrete steps had been taken to end rural poverty, the farmers and other
NGOs representatives felt the need to intensify their action to ensure that
their voices be heard. The sole objective of their action was to get as closest
as possible to the venue of the MC6. It had been clearly demonstrated throughout
the course of their actions involving all those targeting to break the police
defense line and nothing else. As suggested by the lawyer representing these 14
protesters, this is an unusual prosecution in regard to the history of the WTO
and we demand for their immediate release.

We are in particularly concerned at the excessive use of police force in this
instance resulting in many injuries. Furthermore we are indignant to learn of
the many cases of inhumane treatments while they were held in police custody.
Many of them constitute violations of international laws and standards.
Therefore we call upon your government concerned to take immediate action to
rectify this situation.

We will continue to closely monitor the situation of the 14 protestors and the
actions of the Hong Kong authorities.

Thank you for your attention to this extremely urgent matter.

Yours sincerely,
(list of signatories)

--------------------------

Dear Friends

How are you? Hope that those who had been in hk for WTO got back home safely.
Here in Hong Kong the struggle has never finished. Now, there are still 14
people detained, charged with unlawful assembly. In 20th court hearing,
bail-out of these 14 detainees has been rejected. These people are randomly
selected out of about 900 arrested on 17th in Wanchai by hk police without any
clear evidences and so far they haven't got any clear idea of what they did or
where they were.

I have been with them, translating for lawyers and also helping them organising
sitting in struggle in HK. I went to Kwuntong Court with lawyer to know who
were in the court prison. We only knew approximate number of detainees, which
was about 80-90.The condition of these detainees, was really bad. The prison
cell was very small and cold. One cell had 10-20 people. After spending 12
hours on the street surrounded by police who did not even allow the protestors
to go to toilet, they did not have chance to wash for almost 3 days. Exhausted
and frustrated, these Korean detainees did not even trust me, looking at me
with scary eyes and keep asking me 'are you really with lawyer?'...It took me
for a while to convince them that I was with KCTU and lawyer. Once they trusted
me, all complaints and requests came out at the same time, it was impossible for
me to collect all of them. All of them wanted to know what was going on outside
desperately. Many of them asked to contact their family. Asking water, giving
me a comrade's name to check whether they are ok or not.....tens of request at
a time...

I was in police station with them when they were finger printed and charged. The
attitude of hk police was really rude and violent. They wanted to force the
detainees physically first, rather than asking them to do so verbally. One
farmer was trying to talk to me desperately, wanting to know whether it was
possible to have a little break. Police shout at this detainee even when he
talked to me for translation. As I complaint by saying that they don't have to
shout at him, he also approached and looked at me as if he would arrest me
immediately. One farmer refused to speak Korean to me, only repeating a
lawyer's English name who had visited them the first day in police station. It
took me about 20 min to persuade him to talk to me and trust me. One word came
out from him, 'why should this world this unfair...?'. His wife gave birth only
a few days before he left for anti-WTO struggle in HK. In front of the court,
the arch bishop of Hong Kong was complaining about inhumane treatment of the
detainees by hk police, one superintendent came out and pushed him back, he
nearly fell down. And the police disappeared behind the door. They do not
respect anyone involved in this struggle.

On the contrary, hong kong people's support to the protestors are still there,
not to mention the full-hearted support from young activists of HKCTU and other
small organisations. Last night we launched sit-in strike in front of Kwuntong
court. It was coldest night in this year. Nevertheless, many locals visisted
the site with food and clothes. A school girl with her mom visited us with a
drawing of the little girl which showed a big heart in between Korean farmers
and hong kong people. An elderly woman came with sleeping bag. As we told her
that we have enough, she said she wanted to bring a big umbrella so that we
could shield the wind. She said she think the farmers are all her family and
chanted the slogan 'down down WTO'. A middle age hong konger visited us with a
whole set of meal and hot soyabean soup, told us 'you taught us a lot about how
to fight for our rights in hong Kong. He was in candle vigil for democracy just
before he came to us to support. Visits continued till 2AM. By the time we went
to sleep, we, except the one in hunger strike, were all completely full....with
the food and the warm heart. It was a very cold day; however, no one there felt
that we were alone.


We need more support from all over the world to release those detainees. The
trial is completely political. In the court hearing, the prosecutors' statement
was really poor, sounded not convincing at all, as if they just cut and paste
some news paper articles describing the demonstration. It is very unusual that
bail out is rejected for the charge of unlawful assembly. It is time for
solidarity action, every single protest letter will be great pressure to hk
government who is trying to manipulate public opinion as if this conflict is
beween hong kong and foreigners. Let them know that the unlawful assembly was
not people's demonstration but the WTO ministerial. Let them know they cannot
keep violating human right.

Please take action according to the following

Dae-oup Chang


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Urgent appeal by the Hong Kong support group for Anti-WTO protest detainees

20th December 2005

Urgent appeal by the Hong Kong support group for Anti-WTO protest detainees

Dear friends,

We write to request your immediate solidarity action against the Hong Kong
governmentâs mass arrest and violence against the anti-WTO demonstrators on the
17th and 18th of December 2005.

Currently, 14 male demonstrators including 11 Koreans, 1 Japanese, 1 Chinese,
and 1 Taiwanese are still held in police custody and will be up for trial this
Friday, the 23rd of December.

As members of various international and local Hong Kong civil society groups, we
strongly condemn the mass arrests and crackdown against WTO demonstrators. We
assert the legitimacy of protest, and continue to support and call for the
unconditional release of those who are still detained. We call for better
treatment of detainees, and demand an apology from the Hong Kong authorities
for their actions.

Various solidarity actions, listed below, have been planned for Hong Kong. We
call for international solidarity actions on and before the 23rd of December.
Please find below background information and further suggested actions
including a sample email. We urge you to contact the Hong Kong authorities
today and call for the detainees to be released and the charges to be dropped!

Updates and more information can be found the website of the Hong Kong Peoples
Alliance on the WTO: http://www.hkpa-wto.org/

For more information, please contact:

HKPA Documentation Team
hkpa.documentation at gmail.com


Further Local Action:




Starting at 4:00pm on the 21st of December a member of the Korean Peasants䴜
League will bow 3000 times in front of Kwun Tong District Court, Kowloon.

Local activists will continue a hunger strike, started upon initial arrests on
the 18th of December.

Symbolic visits to the three detention centers where detainees are being held
will take place during the day of 22nd of December for Winter Festival. Tong
Yuen desserts will be brought as a gesture of reunification.

A candlelight vigil will be held on the evening on the 22nd of December at SOGO
pedestrian zone from 9:00pm ‰¥" 11:00pm.

A solidarity demonstration outside of Kwun Tong District Court will be held on
the 23rd of December starting at 11:00am.



Suggested International Action:



Please contact the Hong Kong authorities to demand that those in custody be
released, and that the charges be dropped.

Please send Hong Kong People䴜s Alliance, at hkpa.documentation at gmail.com, your
message of solidarity to be used during the local demonstration at Kwun Tong
District Court on the 23rd of December.

Please arrange international protests on or before the 23rd of December at your
local Chinese embassy.




Background:

On December 17 the Hong Kong police arrested hundreds of activists who were
trying to reach the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre in a
demonstration to protest against the policies of the World Trade Organisation
(WTO). At around 5:00 pm, they were stopped by the police, who used pepper
spray, water hoses and eventually, tear gas, to disperse them. Many
demonstrators were injured and some were hospitalized.

Reports from the legal support group and those arrested reveal that many have
been
mishandled or beaten by the police and were denied medical aid, food, water and
bathroom facilities.

By now most arrested have been released, but the HK government sent 14
demonstrators to court on 19th of December charging them with unlawful assembly
under the HK Public Order Ordinance. These people include 11 Koreans, 1
Taiwanese, 1 Japanese and 1 mainland Chinese (names listed below). The judge
rejected bail out requests. They are now in police custody pending trial on the
23rd of December. The police might charge them with more serious offences.

Those persons still detained:

HWANG, DAE SUB Korean Catholic Farmers䴜 Association
YANG, KYOUNG KYU Korean Confederation of Trade Unions
KANG, SEUNG KYU Korean Peasants䴜 League
LEE, YOUNG HOON Korean Peasants䴜 League
PARK, IN HWAN Korean Peasants䴜 League
YOON, IL KWON Korean Peasants䴜 League
NAMGUNG SUK Korean Peasants䴜 League
LIM, DAE HYUK Korean Confederation of Trade Unions
KIM, CHANG JOON Korean Peasants䴜 League
HAN, DONG UNG Korean Peasants䴜 League
LEE, HYUNG JIN Korean Peasants䴜 League

LEE CHIEN CHING Taiwanese student
MAKAKIRI KOSUKE Japanese journalist, ‰¥þPeople Newspaper‰¥ÿ
1 mainland Chinese

It is extremely important to contact the Hong Kong police and authorities as
soon as possible, before the hearing of the 23rd, and call for those kept in
custody to be released, and for the charges to be dropped. Find below a sample
email with contact addresses (you are encouraged to adapt this to your own
words).



SAMPLE EMAIL

To:
Chief Executive of HK: Mr Donald Tsang ceo at ceo.gov.hk
Head of the Security Bureau: Mr Ambrose S.K. LEE at sbenq at sb.gov.hk


Dear Mr Tsang / Mr. Lee

I/we (my organisation) am deeply concerned about the 14 demonstrators still held
in police custody in Hong Kong, following the rally of December 17, 2005. I/we
(my organisation) call upon you to immediately release them, and drop all of
the charges.

Over the past few weeks, dozens of peaceful rallies were organized in Hong Kong.
Furthermore, the local and international community was deeply moved by the
sincere actions of demonstrators and expressed their strong support to the
Korean peasants.

During the whole demonstration, there was no damage to private shops or public
property. Police labeling of this incident as a ‰¥þriot‰¥ÿ is totally
misleading and completely untrue.

I/we (my organisation) regret that the police force used unnecessary excessive
force during the rally, on December 17, 2005. Tear gas was applied without
prior warning to the public and reporters on the spot. We regret the fact that
considerable numbers of demonstrators and Hong Kong citizens were injured by
water cannon and tear gas and express our deepest concern to all injured
people.

Many international NGO and trade union representatives were present in Hong Kong
during the WTO conference, and joined in the rallies and actions together with
those presently kept in custody. The international community will continue to
closely monitor the situation of the detainees and the actions of the Hong Kong
authorities. We sincerely hope you will hear our call and release all detainees
unconditionally and without pressing charges.

Sincerely,