Hong Kong ‘should not welcome tyrant’ Duterte as city prepares for Philippine president’s arrival
Human rights groups are gearing up for protests against Duterte, citing ‘widespread human rights violations happening in the Philippines’ and his ‘strong-arm rule’
Hong Kong should not welcome a “tyrant and a fascist”, Hong Kong human rights advocates said as the city prepared to host Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, a divisive figure at home and abroad.
Duterte is expected to arrive late on Tuesday after attending the Boao Forum for Asia where he and President Xi Jinping were expected to hold talks on terrorism and drug trafficking on the forum’s sidelines.
After arriving at Hong Kong International Airport by private jet, he will be whisked by a heavily armed police motorcade to the InterContinental Hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui, where he will stay during his three-day “working visit”. While his itinerary remained a mystery, Philippine media have reported that he was close to sealing a deal for the deployment of Filipino domestic workers to mainland China as well as more Filipino English teachers.
Families of four Hongkongers arrested on ‘floating drug lab’ in the Philippines petition Duterte for their release
The brash Duterte has been the target of human rights groups in the Philippines and internationally for his heavy-handed tactics in his war on drugs that included extrajudicial killings as well as silencing dissent by revoking the licences of media groups that questioned his policies.