I was able to get a hold of Lee Cheuk-Yan yesterday, as I imagine it probably will be one of the last public interviews that he was able to do before Thursday's trial. Here's what he said to me about the march at the center of this case in #HongKong:
https://twitter.com/WilliamYang120/status/1377455057982029829
"We are very honored to be with the people at the march and I want to remind the people that it was a big march and big rally that 1.7 million people responded to the call for a peaceful assembly in Victoria Park."
"What we have done is actually just helping people disperse, but helping people to disperse has now been charged as an illegal march.
No matter what outcome it is on Thursday, even if we are sentenced or jailed, we are very honored to be jailed for standing together with the people of Hong Kong in expressing our views and will for democracy and freedom."
"We will continue the fight because the five demands on August 18 2019 had not been met yet. We will continue the struggle.
Tomorrow, I think no matter what outcome it is, we will continue to stand firm. Having said that, I also need to say that even if we can have a verdict of acquittal on Thursday, I have another trial and some of the others have more trials coming up. "
"I have a trial on April 7 and another one on May 17, and the fourth trial is still waiting for a trial date. Even if I can be acquitted on Thursday, I don’t think I can be acquitted in the future.
No matter what outcome it is, we feel that we are honored to be with the people and to go to jail for freedom and democracy in Hong Kong. We salute all the people who participate and take part in all the protest movements in 2019."
Lee talks about the strategy that #HongKong government has been using to stack several cases against certain high-profile opposition figures: "I would say it’s now a day of reckoning for the people in Hong Kong by the Chinese government.
It is a political retaliation for all the things that we have done back in 2019. I think they are taking a three-prong strategy, which are political prosecution as a way to silence the activists,...
... the national security law to create the chilling effect on people voicing out and thirdly, the election change that they imposed on Hong Kong with the direct election of legislators reduced from 50% to 22%, a very big regression."
"All the strategy is out there and I think for high-profile activists for many years, I think we have to tell the people in Hong Kong that maybe going to jail is part of the struggle and they can jail us, but they can’t jail our spirit.
I think it applies to all the people in Hong Kong that the spirit of fighting for democracy and freedom will still go on. I think it’s very important that we still stay active and optimistic about the future of Hong Kong even in difficult conditions."
"We need to do so by organizing around the civil society and strengthen the civil society so we can fight back in the future."
Lee also talked about the importance for #HongKong to hold onto its civil society: "We are getting very close to the system of China but not yet. I think it’s very important to emphasize the “not yet.”"
"We must hold on to the very narrow space that we have and not to give up. Although things are getting very difficult for the people in Hong Kong and it seems that both the legal system and political system are looking more like the ones in China,...
... I think we still have a very strong civil society and I think we need to hold onto that. I don’t know whether it will be completely wiped out just like how it is in China, but we hope it will not be like that.
We will still hold onto what we have and prepare for the next opportunity to reclaim what we want, which is democracy, freedom and Hong Kong."
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
