Chinese human rights lawyer ‘safe’ after return from Hong Kong protests trip
- Chen Qiushi says he is back in Beijing after his trip was cut short and posts were deleted from mainland social media
- Activists said authorities could try to silence Chen after he observed rallies and posted videos about them
A mainland Chinese lawyer who visited Hong Kong last weekend to observe protests in the city has confirmed that he is “safe” and back in Beijing, despite having had to cut his trip short because of pressure from the authorities.
Chen Qiushi, 33, a Beijing-based lawyer and public commentator, arrived in Hong Kong on Saturday as a tourist.
He attended a rally organised by pro-government supporters that day and also observed Sunday’s demonstration involving hundreds of thousands of anti-government protesters.
While in Hong Kong, Chen uploaded several video diaries and observations about the protests to the Twitter-like Weibo, where his account has more than 770,000 followers. The diaries have since been deleted from his Weibo account but are still available on YouTube.
Chen indicated to the South China Morning Post on Wednesday evening that he was safe, then explained in audio messages on Thursday morning that he had returned to Beijing.
“No one sent me or invited me to Hong Kong. I went purely out of my curiosity about what was happening there,” Chen said.