Malaysians in Hong Kong condemn Kuala Lumpur crackdown

Malaysians in Hong Kong condemn Kuala Lumpur crackdown
by Staff Writers
Hong Kong (AFP) July 9, 2011

About 80 Malaysians marched through central Hong Kong Saturday to support a simultaneous mass rally for electoral reforms back home where riot police fired tear gas and water cannon.

Hundreds of people have been arrested in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur, after they defied baton-carrying riot officers and joined thousands of others in attempts to rally in a stadium to demand free and fair elections.

Wearing yellow T-shirts, the colour of poll reforms group Bersih 2.0, which means clean, that organised the Malaysian rally, the group in Hong Kong chanted slogans and submitted a memorandum to the Malaysian consulate.

"We, Malaysians residing in Hong Kong, support Bersih 2.0 call for free and fair elections," spokesman Brandon Tan said, as he condemned the violence by Malaysian police and said he was "very upset" over the mass arrests.

"They should learn from the Hong Kong police. They escorted us, helped us and gave us guidance as we marched through the city," said the 36-year-old.

The rally in Hong Kong was part of a global demonstration simultaneously planned for 30 cities in support of Bersih 2.0, including in Australia, Japan, France, the United States, United Kingdom, South Korea and Taiwan.

Malaysia's opposition made unprecedented gains in 2008 elections against the ruling coalition but said they could have won more if elections rules were fair.

The country's next elections are widely expected to be called early next year.

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China expels Swedish student after protest call: reports
Stockholm (AFP) July 9, 2011 - A Swedish student in China had his visa revoked after he called on his blog for a protest in Shanghai in support of freedom of expression, Swedish public radio reported Saturday.

"I have long wanted to try to organise a small, small event that at the same time could attract a little attention from the paranoid authorities," Sven Englund, 24, wrote on his Swedish blog on July 1, as the Chinese Communist Party was celebrating its 90th anniversary.

On a separate blog in Chinese, he invited Chinese President Hu Jintao to a so-called 'flash mob' protest, according to the radio report.

Participants were asked to write the Chinese symbol for "freedom" somewhere on their body before going to a central spot in Shanghai and standing there for five minutes.

It remains unclear if the event took place as Englund was being interrogated by police at its scheduled time on July 2, according to a later post on his Swedish blog.

They had taken his passport and pressured him to post a blog entry calling off the event, which he did, stating the protest may be illegal as he had not applied for a permit.

"If anyone goes there, it is their own responsibility," he wrote.

This was apparently not enough. On Friday, Englund was informed that his student visa had been revoked and early Saturday, according to his feed on micro-blogging site Twitter, he was put on a plane out of the country.

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Belgium in crisis as Flemish separatists reject compromise
Brussels (AFP) July 7, 2011
Belgium's year-long political crisis deepened Thursday when Flemish separatists in its largest party rejected a make-or-break compromise, opening the door to snap elections that could split the nation. Hopes for an end to a damaging 13-month impasse in language-divided Belgium came crashing when the Flemish N-VA rejected out of hand a compromise offered by French-speaking rivals, to serve as ... read more

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