Japan’s #FreeAgnes Campaign Shows Support for Detained Hong Kong Activist

  • Japanese have dubbed activist the ‘goddess of democracy’
  • Cross-party lawmakers’ group set to hold protest meeting

Agnes Chow looks out of a car window while being driven away by police from her home following arrest in Hong Kong, on Aug. 10.

Photographer: Vernon Yuen/AFP via Getty Images 

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While the world focuses on the detention of Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai, it’s the plight of 23-year-old activist Agnes Chow that has made the battle over human rights in the city personal for many in Japan.

Chow, a Japanese speaker who helped galvanize support for the pro-democracy movement, has been dubbed “the goddess of democracy” by local media, in a reference to a statue created by protesters at Tiananmen Square.