FRANKFURT, Aug. 24 (Xinhua) -- Overseas Chinese living in Frankfurt and nearby gathered in the heart of the German city on Saturday for a peaceful rally, urging an end to violence caused by radical protesters in Hong Kong and voicing hope for peace and prosperity there.
About 300 Chinese living in Germany joined the rally in Goetheplatz, a landmark in central Frankfurt, waving the Chinese and German national flags and holding placards written with slogans such as "Stop riots in Hong Kong" and "I love China, I love Hong Kong."
Hong Kong has witnessed escalating violence among protesters recently, causing services cut-off and even closure of the airport. Violent protesters also attacked police officers and assaulted journalists.
"Although away from the native home, the hearts of the overseas Chinese are always with our motherland," said Wu Han, a participant who has been living in Germany for five decades.
Cheung Lee, a Hong Kong native who came to Germany in the 1970s, said it pained him to see the recent violent acts in his hometown that disrupted the normal social order.
The ordinary Hong Kong people are kind-hearted, but those who turned the facts upside down and fanned the flames of the riots have an axe to grind, Lee said, emphasizing that "there can not be chaos in Hong Kong."
A few passers-by joined the rally. Together they chorused the Chinese national anthem and popular songs including "My Chinese Heart." They chanted slogans such as "I love China, I love Hong Kong" and "stop violence" in Chinese and German.
The chorus caught the attention of the local people, many of whom stopped to watch the rally. Some of them were seen waving the flags handed by the organizers.
One of them is Raid, a 20-year-old local student who only gave his surname to Xinhua. He had recently canceled his family trip to Hong Kong, when the airport was closed as protesters took over the terminal.
Raid asked organizers for two flags, one for himself and one for his sister. "We like China a lot. We like Hong Kong a lot. We have always wanted to go and have a look," said Raid.
The Western media's take on what is happening in Hong Kong does not convince him, and a chaotic state caused by violence is in no way acceptable, he said.
Hartlieb, a local resident, also stopped to watch the rally. The Western media should keep quiet about the situation in Hong Kong, because Europe and especially the United States, are actually behind it, he said.
"I think violence should be punished," Hartlieb said, adding that it is important to get people off the streets and restore the normal life.
