For Richard Wong, 25, who moved to Britain from Hong Kong two years ago, participating in a free election "feels strange." He exercises rights he once fought for,

knowing his friends back home no longer can. "Back in Hong Kong we tried so hard to get democracy and then lost it. And I moved here, and we are actually practicing democracy, but in a very different context," said Wong, who has been volunteering for an opposition Labour party candidate in next month's UK general election. "I still have friends spending their time in prison and I'm ... doing this at the other end of the world."

Since 2021, more than 180,000 Hong Kongers have moved to Britain under a special visa programme created in response to a crackdown on dissent in their homeland, a former British colony handed back to Beijing in 1997. China asserts the crackdown was necessary to restore stability after months of sometimes violent protests in 2019.

When Britain left Hong Kong, it offered a limited form of British nationality to residents, granting Hong Kongers the right to vote in the UK. The upcoming national election will be their first opportunity to participate in this central democratic ritual in their adopted home. Many are passionate about the opportunity.

"I know the power of votes. I think if we have that power we should utilise it," said Carmen Lau, a campaign coordinator for Vote for Hong Kong 2024, a group encouraging Hong Kongers in the UK to participate in the British election. Before moving to Britain, Lau was elected a Hong Kong district councillor in 2019 but was later disqualified for refusing to take an oath of loyalty to the territory's mini-constitution.

With relations between Britain and China at a low ebb, amid accusations from London that Beijing had intimidated a foreign national on British soil and counterclaims of spying activities, some Hong Kongers still fear China's reach. Lau noted that at cultural events, many attendees wore masks and avoided cameras to protect their families back in Hong Kong from harassment.

"The right to vote is precious, and more Hong Kong people are moving to the UK and we're concerned about China's control and spies, so there is a need to speak out," said one Hong Konger in the UK, Kate, 33, who declined to give her full name due to fear of reprisals. Photo by Pedro Szekely from Los Angeles, USA, Wikimedia commons.