The unflattering images on the toilet paper were going to be sold in a Hong Kong market during Lunar New Year celebrations later this month, Lo Kin-hei, a vice chairman of the Hong Kong Democratic Party, told NBC News.
Some of the images had the word “lying” written on Leung’s forehead, and others showed the leader with fangs, a reference to the fact that his opponents describe him as a wolf.
AP Photo/Kin Cheung
“I think the Chinese government just wants to suppress all different opinions,” a pro-democracy leader, Lam Cheuk-ting, told AFP.
“Our products are just some kind of joke,
which presents no harm to so-called national security,” Lam said. “It is
a violation of freedom of expression.”
AP Photo/Kin Cheung
The products defacing Kin-hei come just a week after thousands of pro-democracy protesters returned to the streets in Hong Kong, demanding democratic electoral freedom.
Protesters called Leung a “puppet of Beijing” and demanded he step down.
China has promised that Hong Kong residents will be able to vote for
their next leader in 2017, but is stipulating that electoral nominees be
vetted by a pro-Beijing committee, leading to protests and revolts
throughout Hong Kong last year.Hong Kong, a British colony until 1997, currently has greater civil liberties than the Chinese mainland, including freedom of speech and the right to protest.
AP Photo/Kin Cheung
