Protesters rally in HK to support Snowden

The Hong Kong government will handle the case of Edward Snowden in accordance with laws and established procedures, Leung Chun-ying, chief executive of the special administrative region, said in a statement over the weekend.

The statement came after protesters staged a rally on Saturday urging the government not to extradite the 29-year-old former employee with the Central Intelligence Agency, and slam the US for its surveillance programs.

The government will follow up on any incidents related to the privacy or other rights of the institutions or people in Hong Kong being violated, said the statement.

Snowden has gone to ground in the city after blowing the lid on Washington's secret Internet and telephone surveillance programs, and has vowed to fight any extradition request. The US has launched a criminal investigation.

Saturday's demonstration saw protesters, including pro-democracy lawmakers, activists and expatriates march to the US consulate holding banners and shouting "Defend Free Speech," "Protect Snowden," "No Extradition" and "Respect Hong Kong Law."

The protesters handed a letter over to the US consulate addressed to Consul General Steve Young, which said, "For many years, the US State Department has publicly supported the cause of Internet freedom and criticized other governments for conducting cyber attacks, surveillance and censorship.

"We now understand, through recent revelations, that the US government has been operating their own blanket surveillance systems and allegedly conducting cyber warfare against Hong Kong."

Snowden told the South China Morning Post last week there have been more than 61,000 hacking operations by the National Security Agency globally, of which hundreds target Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland.

Hong Kong has a long-standing extradition treaty with the US. So far the US has not filed a formal extradition request, while Beijing has not yet commented on the case.

Global Times - Agencies