2014-11-15
Federation of Students representatives Nathan Law Kwun-chung (L), Alex Chow Yong-kang, (C) and Eason Chung Yiu-wa (R) leave the Cathay Pacific counter after being prevented from boarding a plane to Beijing, at Hong Kong International Airport, Nov 15, 2014.
Eyepress News
China on Saturday revoked the travel permits of three leaders of Hong Kong’s six-week-long pro-democracy movement, effectively denying them permission to board a plane to Beijing in a bid to speak to leaders of the ruling Chinese Communist Party about their demands for free elections.
Alex Chow, leader of the influential Hong Kong Federation of Students (HKFS) and two fellow HKFS activists, Eason Chung and Nathan Law, were unable to board the Cathay Pacific flight at Hong Kong’s International Airport.
“Airline officials informed [them] they did not have the required travel documents to get on the plane,” Lester Shum, deputy secretary general of HKFS, told reporters.
A Cathay Pacific staff member told the three students that their travel passes—issued to citizens of Hong Kong and Macau wishing to cross the internal border into mainland China—had been canceled, footage aired by Hong Kong’s Cable TV showed.
“We have received information from relevant departments on the mainland that the Home Return Permits of the passengers in question have been canceled,” the staff member said.
Afternoon flight
The three had booked on a flight departing Hong Kong at 3.00 p.m. local time, but were told their documents had been revoked after exiting Hong Kong and before entering China, Chow told Cable TV.
“The police asked us to come back into the exit hall to deal with our tickets,” he said.
“After that, a staff member of the airline told us that our Home Return Permits had been revoked, and that they therefore couldn’t issue us with boarding passes,” Chow was quoted as saying on the broadcaster’s website.
While the permits are available to all citizens of Hong Kong and Macau, China has previously denied entry to outspoken critics of Beijing who are carrying them.
The student leaders had gone to the airport amid large numbers of supporters of the Occupy Central movement, also known as the Umbrella Movement, waving yellow umbrellas and banners calling for “genuine free elections.”
Call to explain
Chow told reporters before attempting to board the plane: “Dialogue is important for resolving the current situation, but it depends on whether Beijing has the initiative to start talks with the students.”
After the failed bid to travel to Beijing, he called on the government to explain the cancelation of their permits.
“Perhaps the authorities really don’t want to hear the voices of the next generation,” Chow told Cable TV. “It seems as if the door to dialogue has been closed.”
Hong Kong and mainland China operate separate immigration and border controls, under the terms of the city’s 1997 return to Chinese rule.
Hong Kong immigration officials appeared to have played no part in preventing the student leaders from leaving the former British colony.
However, airlines generally check the immigration status of passengers before allowing them to board, under international aviation agreements and local legislation.
