Suspended UQ student Drew Pavlou leads anti-China protest
A controversial student activist suspended from UQ has led Brisbane’s latest anti-China protest amid the fallout from Hong Kong’s new security laws.
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SUSPENDED university student Drew Pavlou has led an anti-China protest in Brisbane’s King George Square on Wednesday night.
The protest, on the 23rd anniversary of the handover of Hong Kong to Chinese jurisdiction, has taken aim at China’s new national security law for the island state, which Western nations say undermines the “one nation, two systems” governance scheme.
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Mr Pavlou, 21, addressed the crowd just after 7pm, taking aim at the new law as well as reports of forced birth control on Uighurs and other minorities.
He said the new laws had “forced the silence of millions of protesters”.
“This is a ultranationalist government, it’s not a communist regime, it’s a fascist regime,” he shouted to the crowd at one point.
“It's a modern-day Nazi Party – they’re committing genocide.”
The rally also hosted speakers from Brisbane-based Hong Kong protest groups, as well as Indian and Tibetan community members.
A man labelled an “agitator” was taken into police custody after filming protesters and telling them to take their masks off.
He then attempted to hijack the rally by snatching the speaker’s microphone before fighting off police intervention.
CCP agitator arrested at our Hong Kong rally in Brisbane tonight. He was filming Hong Kongers and telling them to take their masks off. Snatched the microphone and then tried to fight police when they intervened pic.twitter.com/eIh2vkzsgL
— Drew Pavlou æŸä¹å¿— (@DrewPavlou) July 1, 2020
Mr Pavlou was suspended for two years from the University of Queensland, which claimed misconduct over his on-campus activism.
Mr Pavlou has been forced to wait two weeks to learn if his appeal is successful.
He has previously called on UQ to sever links with China over its “atrocities” against minorities, and sued the university for $3.5 million over its handling of his suspension.
