Coming to America: Hong Kong democracy trio to address forum on Occupy movement

Democracy activists Joshua Wong Chi-fung, Martin Lee Chu-ming and Benny Tai Yiu-ting confirmed they will visit the United States later this month to address a forum on democracy in Hong Kong.

Tai, who co-founded the Occupy Central campaign, said they had been invited to speak at a reception to mark the 75th anniversary of the establishment of Freedom House, a US-based social concern group that studies human rights and democratic governance around the world.

The event will take place in Washington on September 24 - four days before the first anniversary of the start of the Occupy protests in Hong Kong last year.

Referring to the 79-day civil disobedience movement, Scholarism convenor Wong said: "I will go there to talk about the umbrella movement and how the Hong Kong democratic movement should move on … But my itinerary and the dates are not confirmed yet."

Tai said he was working on his speech for the occasion. Lee, founding chairman of the Democratic Party, said he was also preparing his speech, which would touch on the "umbrella movement". Freedom House could not be reached for comment.

It was unclear whether the trio would meet any members of the US Congress.