Image Credit: Global News

By Jill Sperling

Hong Kong Protests

TRU professor urges Canadians to take caution when travelling to Hong Kong

Aug 13, 2019 | 5:11 PM

KAMLOOPS — A Political Studies professor from Thompson Rivers University is weighing in on the tense situation in Hong Kong as protests impact travellers.

Flights were cancelled for a second day, following a massive sit-in by Hong Kong residents protesting an extradition bill that would have permitted criminals to be extradited from Hong Kong to Mainland China.

While the bill did not move forward, Robert Hanlon says protestors are concerned it has not been officially withdrawn.

“This is seen as kind of a back way of a threat to the government being able to remove political dissenters from Hong Kong to Mainland China,” Hanlon said. “A lot of the unrest is around this lack of trust the protesters have with the government.”

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Hong Kong has been semi-autonomous since 1997, but is set to rejoin China in 2047. Hanlon believes tensions are rising with the deadline looming.

Until recently, Hong Kong has been considered one of the safest places in Asia.

Now, Hanlon is advising travellers to be cautious.

“There is serious violence in the streets, on different sides,” he said, “there’s petrol bombs being thrown, there’s occupying of the subway system, public transit is literally being shut down in parts of the city. It certainly is a very tense time. I would absolutely advise any Canadians traveling to Hong Kong to avoid those areas.”