Hong Kong people stage rally calling on Beijing to fully free Nobel laureate
More than a hundred gather in Central for candlelight vigil urging Chinese authorities to allow Liu Xiaobo to travel overseas for medical treatment
Liu, 61, was granted medical parole about a month ago after he was diagnosed with terminal liver cancer. He is being treated in a hospital in Shenyang in northeast China’s Liaoning province, by a team of top doctors, according to authorities.
The event organiser said about 400 people attended the vigil outside the Court of Final Appeal. They urged Xi to immediately free Liu so he could receive the best medical treatment, and called for the release of his wife, Liu Xia, who has been under effective house arrest since her husband won the peace prize in 2010.
They called on Beijing to reveal whether authorities had delayed in treating the activist once his condition became known.
Chow Hang-tung, vice-chairwoman of event organiser the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China, said: “Since 2010, there have been rumours of Liu Xiaobo having hepatitis and seven years later, we suddenly hear of him having terminal liver cancer.
“The authorities either did not give him check-ups or treatments, or gave him treatments but hid his condition from the public, leading to him missing out on the best opportunity for treatment.”