Tokyo: Parade Against Proposed Hong Kong Article 23 Legislation

It was cold and windy in Tokyo on December 22, 2002. About two hundred people gathered in a park not far from the Chinese Embassy in Tokyo to protest the proposed Hong Kong Article 23 Legislation. The people included Japanese clerks of companies, students from China and Taiwan, Falun Gong practitioners and other Chinese in Japan. The representative from "Hong Kong Freedom Protection Association" made a statement at the rally pointing out, "Hong Kong special district government pushed the Article 23 legislation under pressure from the Beijing government. The issue of Article 23 is not just a threat to Hong Kong, but also has severe effects on the media, economy and human rights of Japan and the world. The main concerns with Article 23 includes:

"In democratic countries, the citizen has the right to monitor and criticise the government; Article 23 makes the action of criticising the government into an act of being against the country, and therefore at risk of punishment.[...]

It gives excessive authority to the police, so that police can enter and search residential houses without a permit from court[...]

Any organisations banned in Mainland China will automatically be banned in Hong Kong without an investigation[...]

Any speech, whether it is oral, written or on the internet, if the authorities regards it as sedition, the speaker, listener, reader and anyone who knew about it but did not report it to the police will be charged with a crime[...]

Hong Kong permanent residents are bound by this law no matter where they are. Anyone who comes to Hong Kong, no matter how short or long the visit, will be bound by this law. The punishments range from 7 years imprisonment to life terms[...]

The Hong Kong government's Article 23 legislation will threaten the basic freedoms in Hong Kong such as speech, religion, media, and assembly. The so-called "One Country, Two Systems" will exist only in name.

The parade started from the park at 1:30 p.m. The leading car broadcast the inappropriate terms of Article 23 to the residents and called on the people to be against Article 23 Legislation together. The people in the procession held posters reading "Against Article 23 Legislation," "Article 23 Ignores Human Rights" and "Article 23 Deprives Hong Kong Freedom," etc. They also distributed flyers to passersby along the streets. Many residents said that they like Hong Kong and didn't want to turn Hong Kong into a place without freedom. Many foreign visitors expressed their support to the parade and hailed the parade members. The parade moved through the busy Shaoaku district and after two hours ended in Sasaki Park.