Greek police arrested two activists at the Acropolis in Athens for protesting against the upcoming Winter Olympics in Beijing.
On Sunday, police in Athens detained 22-year-old exiled Hong Kong activist Joey Siu and 18-year-old Tibetan student Tsela Zoksang, both of whom are American citizens. The two activists were seen waving the Tibetan flag as well as the Hong Kong protest flag, which reads “Free Hong Kong Revolution”.
The two female activists are a part of the ‘No Bejing 2022’ campaign which seeks to dissuade countries and companies from participating in the Olympics in China in light of the communist nation’s numerous human rights violations, according to the New York-based Students for a Free Tibet.
In a video message released from the group, Tsela Zoksang said: “The Olympics are intended to represent global unity, but global unity cannot rest on the backdrop of oppression, occupation, and genocide.”
Joey Siu, who is a policy advisor to the London-based Hong Kong Watch pressure group, said that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) “should not be rewarding Beijing with such an important international event” in light of the “genocide” being committed in Xinjiang (also known as East Turkestan), the “occupation of Tibet”, and the anti-democratic crackdown in Hong Kong.
In an exclusive statement provided to Breitbart London, the founder and chairman of Hong Kong Watch, Benedict Rogers, said: “It is outrageous that activists should be arrested and detained for peaceful protest, and I call on the Greek authorities to release them immediately and provide an explanation.
“It is absolutely right that people should oppose holding the Olympics in China, where the regime is committing genocide against the Uyghurs, has dismantled Hong Kong’s freedoms in total breach of an international treaty, is committing the worst crackdown on human rights across the board since the Tiananmen massacre of 1989 and threatens Taiwan and is increasingly aggressive towards the rest of the world.
“This is not a regime that deserves to host the Olympics.”
Hong Kong Watch also called on the Greek authorities to “resist any pressure” from Beijing to extradite the two activists to China and instead allow them to immediately return to the United States of America.
The two activists will reportedly be held overnight, before appearing before a court in Athens on Tuesday morning.
The controversial and draconian National Security law which was imposed on Hong Kong by Beijing in 2019 claims universal jurisdiction, meaning the communist regime can pursue anyone of any nationality in any country for supposed violations of the law, including anything deemed by the CCP to be a subversion of the state, separatism, or foreign interference.
Regardless, China and Greece signed a bilateral extradition treaty in 2019, meaning that the Hong Kong law would not even need to be invoked in order for the activists to be sent to China, where they would likely face imprisonment and torture, as has reportedly been inflicted on other political dissidents.
Despite the widespread criticism of the decision to allow Beijing to host the 2022 Winter Olympics, the IOC said earlier this week that it will not challenge the communist dictatorship on human rights, claiming that its remit is confined to the area of sports.
The Olympic flame for the 24th Winter Games will be lit at the ancient site of Olympia in Greece on Monday before being handed over to a Chinese delegation in Athens on Tuesday.
Follow Kurt Zindulka on Twitter here @KurtZindulka
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