London, Hong Kong, Istanbul: the right to protest is vital

At the Extinction Rebellion protests in Oxford Street in April, I swooped in and out of the din of a samba band while vegan brownies were offered to me. I felt like I belonged in the procession depicted on the frieze of the Parthenon — only with a big pink boat at the end of it.

The protest was about an important cause — climate change — but what struck me is how lucky we are in the UK that we can occupy one of the most famous streets, cause pandemonium, and the politicians actually listen.

Flick to Hong Kong and there’s another remarkable protest, this time against the territory’s government introducing an extradition bill which could allow its citizens to be prosecuted in mainland China. In 1997 Britain returned a liberal, free-market Hong Kong to China, which promised it would allow Hong Kong citizens their traditional freedoms. As early as 2003 there was a protest of half a million people that successfully defeated legislation which would have stopped citizens from speaking out against China. And in 2014 the “umbrella” protests took place to resist once again its encroaching claws.

This month, two million out of a population of more than seven million have taken to the streets to protest against the extradition bill. Hong Kong’s chief executive Carrie Lam has suspended the legislation but many expect it to pass eventually — Lam has compared the protesters to “spoilt children”.

Turkey also has an inspiring story of its citizens extolling freedom: in the recent mayoral election in Istanbul (a rerun of an initial vote nullified for no good reason) President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s AKP party lost control of Turkey’s biggest city for the first time in 25 years, potentially marking the start of his demise. Hordes of opposition voters gathered in the streets to watch the result on big screens. The turnout was 85 per cent — much higher than most European local elections. This result is an overwhelmingly positive development for democracy.

But on Monday Beijing told world leaders not to talk about the Hong Kong protests during this week’s G20 summit. “Hong Kong is China’s special administrative region. Hong Kong matters are purely an internal affair to China. No foreign country has a right to interfere,” said China’s assistant foreign minister Zhang Jun. And President Erdogan’s defeat in Istanbul may well make him more vindictive and consolidate Turkey’s top position in the league table of countries with the most arrests of journalists.

Britain’s next prime minister must realise it’s imperative to keep the flickering light of freedom glowing, wherever it may be, no matter how hard authoritarian forces try to extinguish it. He must stand with freedom fighters, not imperialists. As Boris Johnson’s hero, Pericles, once said: “Make up your minds that happiness depends on being free, and freedom depends on being courageous.”