A Hikvision event was met by protest as Big Brother Watch and Stop Uyghur Genocide waved placards saying “No Hikvision” and “ban Chinese state-owned CCTV”.
Hikvision, a Chinese state-funded CCTV company is implicated in grave human rights abuses. Hikvision’s cameras watch over 1 million people held in concentration camps and every corner of the Xinjiang province, with high-tech features such as facial recognition, behavioural analysis and “Uyghur alerts” to flag the province’s ethnic minorities to the authorities.
This is the first recorded protest against Hikvision, which has a considerable presence within the UK CCTV market.
Jake Hurfurt, Head of Research and Investigations at Big Brother Watch told IPVM: “Big Brother Watch protested Hikvision’s roadshow to make it clear that technology that enables genocide is not welcome in the UK. This surveillance company is directly linked to the persecution and oppression of the Uighur people and we were on hand to inform potential Hikvision clients about the company’s dire human rights record. It’s time we followed the US and banned Chinese-state owned CCTV for good.”
IPVM – “Not Welcome in the UK”: Hikvision Protested At London Roadshow