Hong Kong activists remain defiant 

Hundreds of Hong Kong protesters demonstrated outside a downtown courtroom before dawn on Monday, hoping to get inside the building where authorities were arraigning 47 opposition activists. Emily Lau, the former chairperson of the Hong Kong Democratic Party, was among the protesters. Lau tells The World’s Marco Werman the mood was defiant.TRANSCRIPT:Marco Werman:Just before dawn this morning in Hong Kong, hundreds of protesters lined up outside a downtown courtroom. They were hoping to get inside the building where 47 opposition activists were being arraigned. Many also chanted ‘Liberate Hong Kong revolution of our times.’ That slogan is now illegal under Hong Kong’s controversial new national security law, a law that has stripped Hong Kong of much of its autonomy from mainland China. I spoke with Emily Lau earlier today. She’s the former chairperson of the Hong Kong Democratic Party and was among the demonstrators outside the courtroom this morning.Emily Lau:There were many police officers there. And we tried to get in, of course, but they were, I guess, close to a 1,000 people. And the courtroom is very small. And so we form a queue. It ran around the block. The whole place was flooded with people and many of them were dressed in black as a sign of protest. And what the prosecution wants is to lock these 47 defendants up until the end of May so that they can come back with more evidence and all that — which is so ridiculous. They haven’t got a case yet, but they want to lock up the 47 people. Can you believe that?Marco Werman:Right. Emily Lau, what were the activists actually charged with?Emily Lau:Well, they’re charged with offenses under the national security law, which was imposed on Hong Kong by Beijing at the end of June last year. They are charged with conspiring to subvert the state … very big offenses.Marco Werman:Do the courts in Hong Kong retain any independence from Beijing at this point?Emily Lau:It is diminishing quite fast in the past, even though we came under Chinese rule in 1997, but for 20 odd years, I think the courts were independent and free. But now in the last few years, there’s a lot of pressure on the judges and the Chinese officials are quite blatant about it. They would criticize the judges and attack their judgment. So now the judges, they are also subjected to tremendous pressure.Marco Werman:Given that demonstrations are not happening so vigorously these days, did it feel to you like there’s a movement that still has momentum?Emily Lau:I think the Hong Kong people have not been intimidated so much that they will not come out anymore. Today, we saw them coming out once this COVID-19 subsides and social distancing rules are relaxed. I think many, many will turn out. And so if people tell you Hong Kong is finished, the game is over — I say no, no way. We will not allow that to happen.Marco Werman:Many of your former colleagues and close friends are now in jail. Do you hear from them? Do you expect to see them again soon?Emily Lau:I hope I will see them, but I don’t know about soon. The jails in Hong Kong are still very different from the jails in mainland China. If you are locked up here, you can still get to see your family members, get to see your lawyers, get to see your religious leaders. But over there you get nothing under the national security law. They can take the people here and send them to mainland China and that, that really, would strike fear in the hearts of many people.Marco Werman:One last thing, Emily. President Biden, he’s been in office for just over a month now. Do pro-democracy advocates in Hong Kong feel supported by him? And what concrete steps do they want his administration to take to support them?Emily Lau:I think if we talk about concrete things, I will be breaching the national security law and you won’t be able to talk to me again. So I think I need to be careful. But I hope the international community will voice support for Hong Kong people who are fighting for freedom, for personal safety. And we certainly hope the democratic world will do what they can to help us.Marco Werman:Emily Lau is the former chairperson of the Hong Kong Democratic Party. She’s been speaking with us from Hong Kong. Emily, thank you very much for speaking with us again.Emily Lau:Thank you.