British man held after Hong Kong bridge protest

A Briton was held today after unfurling banners condemning China’s human rights record on a major bridge in Hong Kong.

Other protesters critical of China’s human rights record were expected to demonstrate later in the day near the venue of the Olympic equestrian event in Hong Kong.

Matt Pearce, a long-time Hong Kong resident originally from Bristol, hung two banners on road signs on Hong Kong’s Tsing Ma Bridge that said: “We want human rights and democracy” and “The people of China want freedom from oppression.”

Officials shut down traffic on the bridge’s upper deck where Mr Pearce was protesting.

TV footage showed Mr Pearce wearing a horse’s head mask and a white shirt bearing the Olympic rings while carrying a guitar. His protest ended after about an hour when men in plain clothes hustled him away.

Hong Kong police could not immediately be reached for comment.

A Hong Kong pro-democracy legislator, Emily Lau, and a Hong Kong group critical of China’s brutal crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in June 1989 are expected to protest later near the Olympic equestrian venue.

Olympic organisers moved the equestrian event from Beijing to the former British colony of Hong Kong because of a rash of equine diseases and sub-standard quarantine procedures on the mainland. Hong Kong has a prominent horse racing scene.