A GROUP of students from Southampton will be heading to Downing Street today to urge the British government to protect democracy in Hong Kong.

Students from the University of Southampton will be joined by other students from across the country delivering a petition to Number 10.

In the past month thousands of angry students have taken to the streets of Hong Kong demanding the right to choose their own nominations for the city’s chief executive in the 2017 leadership elections.

In August, China’s top legislative committee in Beijing ruled that voters will only have a choice from a list of two or three candidates selected by a nominating committee.

One of the organisers, Alexander Tam, from Portswood, said they are urging the British Government to take action, such as preventing the sale of tear gas made by a Hampshire firm to Hong Kong police.

The 21-year old biomedical sciences student said: “These elections will have a major impact on the British economy.

Hong Kong is a financial centre, there’s a number of British companies and industries in Hong Kong.

“If personal freedoms in Hong Kong are diminishing, it will have a huge impact on the British economy.”