China-HongKong
UK: Beijing-backed student body 'harassing' pro-democracy activists at colleges for supporting Hong Kong
London: Activists in British universities have accused of being harassed by a student body closely linked to the Chinese Communist Party for criticising human rights abuses in Hong Kong, media reports said.
The Chinese Students and Scholars Association (CSSA) is disrupting pro-democracy rallies on campuses across the UK, reports Daily Mail.
The CSSA has branches in more than 100 British universities and claims to support the 120,000 Chinese students in Britain, reports the British newspaper.
But Western intelligence agencies say it is part of the United Front Work Department, an agency tasked by the Beijing regime with recruiting overseas Chinese nationals for propaganda and espionage, Daily Mail reported.
Critics, however, said universities turn a blind eye to the threat because of the estimated £2.1 billion in fees Chinese students pay each year.
The Daily Mail on Sunday spoke to students who said the CSSA targeted them on British campuses.
A 22-year-old medical science student at University College London told the newspaper that when she formed a group in 2019 to highlight police brutality against Hong Kong pro-democracy activists, their stall on campus was besieged by 40 people waving Chinese flags and filming on phones.
She told Daily Mail: ‘They were shouting and verbally intimidating us… things like, “Your family will be ashamed of you because you are doing this.”
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