Educators sound off to free Zhao
Educators in Hong Kong made a noisy call for justice for jailed mainland melamine milk activist Zhao Lianhai , vowing to teach the city's young generation the importance of the rule of law.
Members of the Hong Kong Professional Teachers' Union, joined by several pan-democrat legislators, beat drums together outside the Cultural Centre in Tsim Sha Tsui at 1pm in a show of solidarity for Zhao.
They called on people to sound a simultaneous call for Zhao's freedom by ringing their telephones or any beeping devices, sounding the horns of their vehicles, clapping their hands or simply shouting aloud to show support for him.
'We are using an ancient method to cry for justice by hitting the drum, because such an unjust incident is not imaginable in the contemporary world,' said Cheung Man-kwong, lawmaker for the education sector, referring to the practice in ancient China in which people would beat drums outside courts when filing cases.
The union's president, Dr Fung Wai-wah, said it had extended the invitation to about 100 Beijing loyalists, including local delegates to the National People's Congress and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, to join the rally, and felt disappointed that none turned up.
The union would next mobilise all schools in the city to ring their bells at the same time, to raise students' awareness of Zhao's case and to teach them of the importance of the rule of law.
Zhao, father of a child affected by melamine-tainted milk and organiser of a parents' group seeking redress for victims in the scandal, was jailed for two-and-a-half years for 'provoking quarrels and making trouble'.
Xinhua reported on Tuesday that Zhao would not file an appeal and that a medical parole application for him was being processed.
