COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — A Hong Kong pro-democracy activist who’s visiting Denmark urged European nations on Wednesday to permit protesters in Hong Kong “a protected haven from the phobia” of China’s Communist Occasion.

“The state of affairs in Hong Kong is getting worse by the day and it’s important that the world is aware of that Hong Kong is not a free metropolis,” Ted Hui stated in an e mail to The Related Press.

Britain has prolonged residency rights for as much as three million Hong Kongers eligible for British Nationwide Abroad passports, permitting them to stay and work there for 5 years.

Britain additionally has adopted the USA, Australia and Canada in suspending extradition agreements with Hong Kong, a metropolis of seven.5 million folks which turned a particular administrative area of China in 1997 after Britain returned management of the territory to Beijing, which promised it autonomy over native affairs for 50 years.

Hui arrived in Denmark on Tuesday “to vary the Danish authorities’s stance,” in line with Thomas Rohden, chairman of the Danish China Important Society, which organized his journey. A former Hong Kong lawmaker, Hui was capable of get his passport again from the federal government and a visa after receiving an invite from Danish lawmakers.

“After I started in politics, I by no means dreamed that the day would come that I might be jailed however democracy is fragile, and it’s obligation of all democrats all over the place to stay collectively in occasions of disaster. I name upon European nations resembling Denmark to observe within the footsteps of Nice Britain and permit protesters in Hong Kong a protected haven from the phobia of CCP,” he stated.

“All politicians around the globe ought to get up for democracy collectively and face the realities of the state of affairs in Hong Kong. If democracies don’t stand collectively, we are going to fall collectively,” Hui stated.

Because the begin of the protests in June 2019, Hong Kong police have made greater than 10,000 arrests.

Outstanding pro-democracy figures who’ve been arrested embrace activists Joshua Wong and Agnes Chow, in addition to media tycoon Jimmy Lai, an outspoken advocate for democracy. Hui was arrested in Could over an incident within the Legislative Council by which he dropped a rotten plant and tried to kick it on the physique’s president.

Activists have accused the Hong Kong authorities and the central Chinese language authorities in Beijing of tightening management over the semi-autonomous territory in response to calls for for extra democracy. They are saying authorities are destroying the autonomy promised to town, a worldwide monetary middle with higher freedoms than mainland China.