Alex Chow, Nathan Law and Eason Chung —three Hong Kong students from the Occupy Movement have been denied permission to go to Beijing to meet with top Chinese officials. The students arrived at the Hong Kong airport greeted by dozens of well-wishers holding up yellow umbrellas, but they were denied boarding passes for a Cathay Pacific flight Pro-democracy lawmakers in Hong Kong are routinely denied entry to the mainland, and Beijing in the past has confiscated or refused to renew the travel permits commonly known as return-home cards for a number of Hong Kong activists.
Carrie Lam, chief secretary for the Hong Kong administration, said that it was unnecessary for the students to petition Beijing and that the central leadership of the ruling Communist Party “is fully aware of the different appeals.”
The party-run Global Times said “These activists may be too naïve. Do they really know who they are and whom they can represent? How can they meet whomever they want in Beijing?”