Today we are launching a solidarity hunger strike action to express our support for the 12 hunger strikers and to demand the immediate release of all of the 14 WTO political prisoners.
We are deeply concerned that our 14 friends from Korea, Japan, Taiwan and mainland China, who were arrested for protesting against the WTO Ministerial, were refused the right to leave Hong Kong for the Christmas and New Year, forcibly separating them from their families and friends. Despite this sacrifice they have continued the struggle, and today is the 6th day of their hunger strike. Their commitment and courage is a lesson to us all, teaching us how to challenge the power and might of the WTO.
We are angered by the repressive actions of the police against WTO protestors, including their use of water canons and beanbag bullets. We also witnessed the violation of human rights by the police during the mass detention of protestors. The government shamelessly suppressed and arrested protestors in order to ensure the passage of the Hong Kong WTO Ministerial Declaration – a declaration that fails to address the real causes of poverty and threatens even greater exploitation. The police have simply acted as a political tool of the WTO and the rich. In order to prosecute the protestors, the Hong Kong government has ignored the principles of justice and abused universal human rights.
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