T-shirts with pro-democracy message seized in Hong Kong
February 13th, 2010 - 11:17 am ICT by IANSHong Kong, Feb 13 (DPA) Customs officers in Hong Kong were Saturday accused of censorship for staging a raid to seize T-shirts that poke fun at a pro-China political party.
More than 100 of the T-shirts that mimicked the logo of the pro-China Democratic Alliance were seized from the stall of a pro-democracy group at a Lunar New Year fair Friday.
Around 1,000 of the T-shirts, which parody pro-China politicians as being “shameless”, had already been sold for $8 each to raise money for the city’s pro-democracy movement.
Stall holders accused customs officers of censorship and of acting with political motives. However, customs officials insisted they were simply acting over a trademark violation of the party’s logo.
No one was arrested in the raid that followed a complaint to customs officers by members of the Democratic Alliance who were offended by the T-shirts.
The raid came amid a fierce debate over the pace of democratisation in the former British colony, which has had limited democracy since reverting to Chinese sovereignty in 1997.
Five pro-democracy legislators resigned in January to force by-elections that they say are to be a de facto referendum on universal suffrage in the city of 7 million.
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Tags: censorship, chinese sovereignty, customs officers, customs officials, democracy movement, democratic alliance, dpa, fair friday, hong kong, legislators, lunar new year, new year, pace, parody, political motives, politicians, referendum, stall holders, trademark violation, universal suffrage