Detained activists including Joshua Wong slam Hong Kong’s ‘descent into police state’ after being held for more than 30 hours during Xi Jinping visit

The activists accused police of mistreatment during detainment and claimed to have been tailed and harassed by “thugs” upon their release, with one female protester claiming to have been deprived of three doses of medication

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Former Occupy activist Joshua Wong slammed the ‘unreasonable detention’ and said if it weren’t for habeas corpus, the protesters would all still be stuck in a North Point police cell. Photo: Sam Tsang

Published: 7:45pm, 30 Jun 2017Updated: 8:25pm, 30 Jun 2017

More than a dozen pro-democracy activists and their supporters held a rally in Hong Kong on Friday afternoon to condemn their 30-hour long detainment while President Xi Jinping toured the city, calling it a further sign of a descent into a “police state”.

The 26 protesters were not released on bail until 5am on Friday, nearly 30 hours after their arrest for “occupying” a symbolic statue at Golden Bauhinia Square on Wednesday night and 31/ 2 hours before a court hearing on the activists’ application for habeas corpus – a legal recourse to determine whether a detention is legal.

Activists protest at the Golden Bauhinia for the release of Liu Xiaobo at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai. Photo: David Wong

Outside the closed-off forecourt of government headquarters on Friday, the activists told reporters that they had been held for more than a day before police begun recording their statements.

The last detainee was let out after 33 hours and no charges were laid on any of them.

The activists accused the police of mistreatment during their detainment and claimed to have been tailed and harassed by “thugs” upon their release.

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