Hong Kong democracy activists urge German action on China

Hong Kong pro-democracy activists demonstrated outside German Foreign Ministry on Tuesday as China's top diplomat visited capital, urging government in Berlin do more to try and force Beijing to dress human rights issues.

Led by prominent activist Nathan Law, who fled Hong Kong for Britain shortly after China implemented a new national security law, crowd held photos of imprisoned dissidents and chanted slogans like “free Hong Kong” and “stand up for human rights.”

China’s contentious national security law for Hong Kong is seen by many as Beijing’s boldest move yet to remove legal firewall between semi-automous territory of Hong Kong and mainland’s authoritarian Communist Party system.

Law told crowd of about 100 to 150 supporters that it was “wishful thinking” from Germany and or western nations that China could be convinced to implement democratic reforms with dialogue and engment alone.

“This authoritarian government is going opposite way,” he said.

He said European Union needed to increase pressure on China to respect “basic human rights” and that Germany, which holds EU's rotating presidency, could le way.

“Appeasement strategies are really, really useless,” he said.

downtown protest came as German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas hosted Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi at an isolated government villa in a wooded area on outskirts of city, well removed from demonstrators.

Wang is currently in middle of a five-nation European tour, which also includes Italy, France, Nerlands and rway.