Commentary
Australian human rights activist Drew Pavlou was arrested in dramatic fashion outside the Chinese embassy in London late last week. A media storm is now brewing.
On July 21, Drew, an outspoken critic of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), most often in his home country of Australia, arrived outside the Chinese embassy in London. His purpose was simple: to hold a protest against the Chinese government’s campaign against Xinjiang’s Uyghur people. It was not his first protest against the CCP’s rampant human rights abuses, and likely won’t be his last.
Things took a surprising turn, however, when London’s metropolitan police arrived and arrested both Drew and a British journalist–Harry Allen–who was covering the protest. Drew then spent about 23 hours incommunicado, under detention, and was interrogated without first being given access to legal counsel. Australia’s foreign service was not given early access either….