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Hong Kong activist glad he didn't disappear

A prominent student leader of Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement has been detained at Bangkok's main airport by Thai authorities, prompting angry condemnation from human rights groups.

Wong arrived in Bangkok just before midnight local time on Tuesday and arrived back in Hong Kong on Wednesday afternoon.

Wong was due to give a talk at an event hosted by Chulalongkorn University about youth participation in politics, the Umbrella Movement and Hong Kong's new political party Demosisto, said the party's deputy secretary general Agnes Chow.

A spokesman at the U.S. Embassy in Bangkok said that they were monitoring developments surrounding Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong and that they were urging Thai authorities to clarify his status.

Refusing entry to Mr Wong would be in line with recent moves by Thailand's military rulers, who seized power in a 2014 coup.

Law said he had concerns that Wong could be sent to mainland China, as happened with a book seller who became a thorn in the side of Beijing and was detained in Thailand past year while on holiday.

"Demosistō strongly condemns the Thai government for unreasonably limiting Wong's freedom and right to entry, and requests the immediate release of Wong". If you would like to discuss another topic, look for a relevant article.

The government has shown zero tolerance for dissent and has cracked down hard on its own student activists who have protested against military rule.

Wong was expected to be deported back to Hong Kong on Wednesday.

Gui Minhai, one of five Hong Kong booksellers who went missing in mysterious circumstances past year and later surfaced in mainland China, reportedly disappeared when holidaying in Pattaya.

Gen Prayut also said that while he did not prevent the public from holding activities to mark the Oct 6 event, they should avoid causing public disturbances.

Mr Wong made reference to the case of five Hong Kong booksellers, specialising in works critical of Chinese leaders, who disappeared only to emerge in custody in mainland China.

Wong's detention "sadly suggests that Bangkok is willing to do Beijing's bidding", said Sophie Richardson, China director at Human Rights Watch. In August, he escaped a jail sentence over the 2014 protests, after a Hong Kong court ordered him to perform community service instead. In 2015, Malaysia also barred him from entering Penang, where he had been invited to speak at seminars on democracy in China. But there was one word I heard very clearly: "blacklist", he told reporters after arriving back in Hong Kong.

"Now is the time when Thailand is moving towards democracy and if [he] says that we're not a democracy, then it's not the right time".

Before he was detained, Mr. Wong was due to address students at an event to mark the 40th anniversary of a massacre of pro-democracy students by security forces on October 6, 1976. "Nobody thought Wong would not be allowed to enter the country at all", she said.

4 shakes hand with a voter during his party's election campaign in Hong Kong.

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Hong Kong activist glad he didn't disappear