Activist arrested for champagne celebration in Hong Kong
By DPA, IANSMonday, October 11, 2010
HONG KONG - A woman was arrested for spraying champagne at a security guard outside China’s de facto embassy in Hong Kong to celebrate the Nobel prize given to Liu Xiaobo, police said Monday.
The woman was among 20 activists who marked the jailed dissident’s award by drinking champagne and eating Norwegian salmon outside the Beijing Liaison Office Sunday afternoon.
During the celebrations, which took place two days after Liu was awarded the prize by the Norwegian Nobel Committee, a security guard complained to police that he had been sprayed with champagne by one of the protesters.
A police spokesman confirmed Monday that 22-year-old Ip Ho-yee had been arrested for common assault following the celebrations. She was released on bail and ordered to report to police next month.
Liu was jailed for 11 years in December for subversion after calling for greater democracy in China. He dedicated his award to the activists who lost their lives in the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre.
Hong Kong, a former British colony which reverted to Chinese sovereignty in 1997 with a mini-constitution guaranteeing freedom of expression, is the only place in China where anti-Beijing protests are tolerated.
