Student activists barred at last minute from Duterte ‘meet and greet’ gathering in Hong Kong

The group Students Against Fees and Exploitation had been cleared to join Philippine leader’s event and had planned to hand over 1,000-signature petition

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Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte. Photo: EPA

Published: 8:00pm, 12 Apr 2018Updated: 9:43pm, 12 Apr 2018

Three university students, who had been cleared to attend Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s meeting with the Filipino community in Hong Kong to hand over a 1,000-signature petition, were barred at the last minute from joining the gathering.

“We were told that it was because of security reasons,” said University of Hong Kong business and law student Rachelle Lau, 21, a member of Students Against Fees and Exploitation (SAFE). The advocacy group has investigated the abuse of domestic workers in Hong Kong.

The students had received a text message authorising them to join the event at Kai Tak Cruise Terminal, where Duterte was meeting the city’s Filipino community, which includes some 203,600 domestic workers. They had expected to hand in a petition and letter calling on Manila to reconsider the recall of Jalilo Dela Torre, the country’s labour attaché to the city.

Lau said that she and two other students boarded a free shuttle bus waiting at Yau Tong MTR station to take people to the cruise terminal, a service organised by the Philippine consulate. But before the bus departed, the students were asked to leave.

“Before we entered the bus, we showed the confirmation message and we were allowed on. While we were sitting there, a woman came and asked for our IDs. I think that at first they recognised only me, because my name has been in the media, but then they realised the other two students were with me,” Lau said.