Hong Kong rally protests political kidnapping

TMHK/Jason Leung

Denouncing his eight-month detention by Beijing, Lam Wing-kee, center in cap, leads thousands of demonstrators, chanting “Protest political kidnappings,” to the Chinese government’s liason office in Hong Kong June 18. Two days earlier he had made the story of his abduction public at a press conference.

Lam was employed by Mighty Current Media and distributed books critical of the Chinese leaders to customers from China. The books are banned by Beijing. Lam told reporters that he was kidnapped, blindfolded and handcuffed while crossing the border to Shenzhen, China, Oct. 24. The next day he was taken on a 13-hour train ride to Ningbo near Shanghai, where he was held in solitary confinement for five months before being transferred to Shaoguan to work in a library.

On June 14, Lam was allowed to go to Hong Kong for one day on condition he retrieve the names of his customers and come back to China. But Lam decided to stay and go public. Beijing disputes his version of events surrounding his disappearance and that of four other booksellers.

Protesters argue that the trampling of Lam’s democratic rights also violates the autonomy guaranteed to Hong Kong at its reunification with China in 1997.

— EMMA JOHNSON