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Thailand denies entry to teen Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong

Bespectacled Joshua Wong, 19, was detained in Bangkok where he had been invited to speak at universities about Hong Kong's "Umbrella Movement" street protests and on setting up his political party, Demosisto.

Pol-Colonel Pruthipong Prayoonsiri, deputy commander of the Suvarnabhumi Airport Immigration Office, confirmed that China had asked for the Thai government's cooperation in denying entry to Wong.

Wong was among three student leaders convicted in August over the 2014 storming of the forecourt of Hong Kong government headquarters, an event that preceded mass protests that brought much of the city to a standstill for more than two months.

Wong was detained and put on a return flight after being blacklisted at China's request, Thai newspaper The Nation reports.

He said he didn't believe that Wong's denial of entry was linked to state-to-state pressure, but was linked to the Thai government's own "management" of people entering the country on tourist visas.

A Thai government spokesman previously said that the country's deportation of illegal migrants is supported by law. "Wong should be freed immediately and allowed to travel and exercise his right to free expression", said Sophie Richardson, the group's China director.

He had been invited to speak at a university event marking the 40th anniversary of a deadly massacre of student protesters in the Thai capital.

Wong's detention also comes nearly a year after Hong Kong bookseller Gui Minhai disappeared in Thailand.

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

Chinese Foreign Ministry representatives have either said they had no specific knowledge of the repatriations or said they were handled in accordance with the law.

Many were shocked at the recent disappearances of five booksellers, including Chinese-born Gui Minhai, a naturalized Swedish citizen who went missing from his holiday home in Thailand and later turned up in mainland Chinese custody.

"A$3 fter which they used a very intimidating voice to say 'Here, we can treat you very well, or purposely make things hard for you, you know to what extent we can do this - so which do you want?"

Immigration officers had refused to give any explanation for Wong's detention, saying only that he had been "blacklisted", he said.

Wong was scheduled to give a talk at Chulalongkorn University about a new generation of political activism.

"For China to pull strings just to target a. college student who is not a criminal but who has a different vision for Hong Kong from Beijing is seen as a heavy-handed and disproportionate use of power", Dr Lam told The Straits Times, adding that the incident will exacerbate the tension between Hong Kong and China. Wong was a year ago blocked from entering Malaysia, where he was due to speak on Hong Kong struggle for greater autonomy from China.

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

Human rights watchdog Amnesty International on Monday criticised Thailand for preventing Hong Kong pro-democratic activist, Joshua Wong, from entering the country to speak to Thai students.

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Thailand denies entry to teen Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong