The Conscience Foundation applauds British citizen Matt Pearce for standing up for human rights in Hong Kong, despite repeated arrests for doing so. Unfortunately, Mr. Pearce was sentenced to six months in a Hong Kong jail after being found guilty of causing a public nuisance while staging a protest against the Chinese government during last summer's Olympics Games.
Arresting and jailing British subject Matt Pearce, now living in Hong Kong, just won't make him stop standing up for human rights. On the opening day of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Mr. Pearce, 33, wore a horses head and unfurled banners from a bridge at a major Hong Kong intersection calling for "freedom from Opression." Apparently the drivers were interested in what he had to say because traffic slowed down so they could take a look, causing traffic congestion. The police arrested him for "causing a public nuisance."Said Mr. Pearce:
"I believe in what I am doing and the style and approach and the strategy I am adopting is exactly what I think Hong Kong needs."
"I am hoping that I will influence some of the other activists here and if more people started doing what I am doing then it would be quite a big problem for the Government."
"With regards to the Olympics, I love sport so I was not against that but I think that it needed someone in Hong Kong to speak up about human rights, freedom and democracy."
This is not the first time Mr. Pearce was arrested.
In 2005 he was sentenced to 21 days in a Hong Kong prison after dressing as Spiderman and scaling a giant TV screen in Hong Kong on the anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. The sentence was later suspended on appeal. Then in 2004 he was convicted of causing a public nuisance after staging a protest in a horse costume at the Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Cup race at Sha Tin Racecourse. He again received a suspended jail term.
The Hong Kong government would probably be much happier if Mr. Pearce would protest where no one could see him. Of course that would defeat the purpose, wouldn't it? For standing up for human rights, The Conscience Foundation applauds Mr. Pearce. We agree wholeheartedly with his statement, "If more people started doing what I am doing then it would be quite a big problem for the government." Yes, indeed! The government would be called on to pay attention to human rights rather than turn a blind eye to them.