Hundreds of people marched in Taiwan’s capital on Sunday to demand the release of 12 Hong Kong anti-government protesters who were arrested by mainland Chinese authorities in August.
The 12 were allegedly traveling illegally by boat to Taiwan when Chinese authorities detained them. They are now facing formal charges for illegal border crossings in Shenzhen, a southern Chinese city that borders Hong Kong, a semi-autonomous Chinese territory.
On Friday, Saturday and Sunday, people demonstrated in at least a dozen cities across the world — from New York to Vancouver to Adelaide in Australia — in support of those who were arrested, in a campaign called #save12hkyouths.
Prominent Hong Kong activists Joshua Wong and Nathan Law helped launch the campaign on social media.
In the crowd in Taipei on Sunday were activists from several Taiwanese organizations, as well as other residents of the self-ruled democratic island and many Hong Kongers.
With many dressed in black and wearing face masks, they marched through the city, shouting “Glory to Hong Kong.”
Taiwan and China split amid civil war in 1949, and Beijing has cut off ties with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen’s government over her refusal to accept its demand that she recognise the island as a part of China to be unified with the mainland eventually under the same “one country, two systems” policy enacted in Hong Kong.