In praise of … Rex Hon Yiu-ting

It takes guts to stand up to the all-powerful. But that is what the Hong Kong journalist Rex Hon Yiu-ting showed when he shouted a question at Chinese president Hu Jintao from behind a press line this weekend. During the president's visit to Hong Kong, Mr Hon, who works for the local Apple Daily , yelled out a question about China's post-Tiananmen Square crackdown. Mr Hon was immediately forcibly removed from the press area by police and accused of causing a disturbance. Fortunately, protests from other journalists and pro-democracy campaigners in the area secured Mr Hon's release and police offered a guarded apology. But the incident is a sharp reminder of the increased fragility of freedoms in Hong Kong, 15 years after the handback. Organisers claimed that 400,000 people rallied for human rights there at the weekend . That turnout and the quick response of local journalists helped ensure that Mr Hon was not a lone voice.