Hong Kong's Joshua Wong on way to Germany, US after brief detention

Yahoo – AFP, September 9, 2019

Joshua Wong has been a democracy activist since he was 12 (AFP Photo/
VIVEK PRAKASH)

Hong Kong (AFP) - Hong Kong democracy activist Joshua Wong said he was making his way to Germany on Monday after he was released from a brief spell in custody following a mistake in his bail conditions.

Wong, 22, was among multiple prominent democracy advocates who were detained late last month in a roundup by police as the semi-autonomous city reels from more than three months of unprecedented pro-democracy protests.

He was accused of "inciting others to take part in unauthorised assembly" among other charges and later released on bail.

On Sunday, he said he was detained at Hong Kong airport for "breaching bail conditions" after returning from Taiwan and as he then tried to make another overseas trip to Germany. He also planned to travel to the United States after.

But he was released by a court on Monday after it emerged the detention was a procedural error and that his bail requirements allowed him to take any overseas trips that had been arranged before his arrest, local news station RTHK reported.

Before departing Hong Kong, Wong tweeted that his overnight detention was "wholly unacceptable and unreasonable".

He said he planned to meet German politicians from different parties as well as speak at Berlin's Humboldt University. He added he would also call on Germany to halt trade negotiations and arms sales to Hong Kong and China "until the human rights is put on the agenda".

His party said he would also be travelling to the United States and would return in late September, without giving details of his itinerary.

Wong began his career as an activist when he was just 12 years old and later became the poster child of the huge pro-democracy "Umbrella Movement" protests of 2014 that failed to win any concessions from Beijing.

He has previously been jailed for his involvement in those protests.