Foreigners who fly in to join Hong Kong protests say they’re not interfering, just ‘showing solidarity across borders’
- Lawmaker says foreigners risk breaking the law by joining illegal marches, wearing masks
- ‘Protest tourists’ from US, Canada say they were moved to show support for Hongkongers
Ben Song was among thousands of people standing shoulder to shoulder at a recent Friday night rally in Hong Kong’s Edinburgh Place.
As the protesters waved their lit mobile phones and shouted Cantonese slogans, Song stayed silent.
But as soon as the chants switched to English, his voice rang out loud with theirs: “Fight for freedom, stand with Hong Kong!”
The 26-year-old Uber driver from Arlington, Texas, was new to it all. This was his second night in Hong Kong, and his first protest. Just three days earlier, he was still at home in the United States.
“I’d been watching the protests for months,” Song says. “I thought to myself all that time: ‘I wish I was over there, I wish I could support them’.”
Half Korean and half Japanese, Song speaks no Cantonese and has no family connection in Hong Kong. He is among a number of foreigners and former Hong Kong residents who have been moved by five months of anti-government protests, to visit the city and join the demonstrations too.