On Saturday, thousands of runners in Hong Kong’s Standard Chartered Marathon wore blue ribbons to show support for press freedom. South China Morning Post reports.
At least 6,600 silk bands were handed out, the Hong Kong Journalists Association said, in the first stage of its “Gag Us Not” campaign. The ribbons went in 2½ hours, association chairman Sham Yee-lan said, adding that the campaign was the “first punch” in a fight against “suppression of dissenting voices”.
[…] The campaign was launched after a week that saw Commercial Radio host Li Wei-ling, a vocal critic of Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying, sacked. Her abrupt dismissal came on the day the city slid from 58th last year to 61st out of 180 countries and territories in a Reporters Without Borders media-freedom index – a fall the association called “worrying”.
The association said in a statement: “We’ll show the authoritarians that we will blow up when asked to remain silent.”
Many of the 65,000 runners yesterday expressed support for the cause. [Source]
See also how Beijing’s influence is increasingly encouraging media self-censorship in Hong Kong and Taiwan.
