Some self-proclaimed "freedom fighters" hypocritical, applying double standards: HK representative

Some "self-proclaimed freedom fighters" in Hong Kong are hypocritical and applying double standards, Pansy Ho Chiu-king, chairperson of the Hong Kong Federation of Women, said on Wednesday.

Pansy Ho Chiu-king, chairperson of the Hong Kong Federation of Women, speaks at a meeting of the United Nations Human Rights Council on September 11, 2019. [Photo: China Plus/Yi Xin]

"I am aggressively chastised by these self-proclaimed freedom fighters who hide behind face masks and anonymous accounts online," she said at the ongoing 42nd session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.

As she decided to speak out at the council, she said, "vicious threats and provocative remarks are used to incite harassment and defamation on me, my family and my businesses."

"This is not only extortion, but a malicious way to propagate arbitrary truth," she said, adding that the moves are hypocritical and revealed the extremists' double standards to the very definition of the freedom of speech.

She told the session that over the past days, the majority of ordinary Hong Kong citizens have faced violence in many shapes and forms -- physically and psychologically.

Besides violent acts of arson, destruction of public transportation facilities and properties, assaults on innocent citizens and police, she said, the radicals also used media and the Internet to invade personal privacy, spread distorted or falsified news to generate mistrust and fear among others, and as a way to make excuses for their violent acts.

Earlier on Wednesday, she condemned the "increasingly escalating violent acts" in Hong Kong in another speech during the session.