Defiant Hongkongers resist China with activism-in-exile from Switzerland

Amid escalating attacks by the Chinese government, exiled pro-democracy activists from Hong Kong have sought havens abroad, including in the Swiss capital, Bern. Switzerland seems an unlikely spot for exiled Hong Kong democracy activists to seek to resist repression by China. The central European nation hosts just over a thousand residents from the former British colony, compared with the three-quarters of a million Hongkongers divided fairly equally between the UK, US and Canada. Neither has the Swiss government put in place the kinds of special visas or fast-track residency that some countries offered people from Hong Kong following the crackdown on political rights in the city from 2020. Yet human rights group Amnesty International this year chose the Swiss capital of Bern as its officially registered centre for Hong Kong. The charity was forced to close its previous offices in the southern Chinese city, saying employees were at risk from a sweeping national security law that ...