TAIPEI (Taiwan News) -- Feng Congde (封從德), a student leader of the Tiananmen protests, was blocked from entering Hong Kong on Sunday afternoon (June 2).
According to local Hong Kong media reports, Feng, 53, was invited by the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China to attend a candlelight vigil to mark the 30th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre in the city's Victoria Park. However, after landing in Hong Kong on a flight from Tokyo, Japan at 1 p.m., Feng was refused entry into Hong Kong by immigration officers and put back on a plane, according to Richard Tsoi, vice-chairman of Hong Kong Alliance, reported HKFP.
In text messages sent by Feng to Tsoi and relayed to HKFP, he wrote that he had the proper travel documents to visit Hong Kong legally. However, he lamented that Hong Kong "obeys the Chinese Communist Party." Feng told AFP that the ban on his entry comes "at a time when Hong Kong people are worried about human rights and freedoms violations, [this incident] only makes them more averse to the government."
Tsoi said that he had invited Feng to attend the vigil in mid-May to come and share his personal experiences. In addition to expressing regret and condemnation of the barring of Feng's entry, Tsoi said that the Hong Kong government is obstructing the entry of Tiananmen Square dissidents for political reasons, reported CNA.
Tsoi said that the Hong Kong government had blocked Feng's entry to prevent Beijing authorities from seeing this "embarrassing situation for the central government," according to the report. When questioned by reporters over the matter, Hong Kong Chief Secretary for Administration Matthew Cheung said that he refused to comment on individual cases and only referred to the "established policy" of the Hong Kong Immigration Department for the entry of persons.
Feng is on Beijing's list of the 21-most wanted student leaders from the Tiananmen Square Protests and has been living in exile overseas since 1989. Over the past 30 years, Feng has published many books about the Tiananmen Square Protests, established a website about the 1989 student movement called 64memo.com, and is the Executive Director of the Tiananmen Academy.
