Hong Kong police yesterday arrested 14 activists in raids on charges of illegal assembly, in the biggest crackdown on the territory’s pro-democracy movement since the outbreak of mass protests last year.
Among those detained in the swoop were 81-year-old Democratic Party founder and attorney Martin Lee (李柱銘), 71-year-old millionaire publishing tycoon Jimmy Lai (黎智英) and 72-year-old former legislator and attorney Margaret Ng (吳靄儀), local media and political sources said.
In all, nine former legislators were arrested.
Photo: AFP
Democratic lawmaker Claudia Mo (毛孟靜), who was not among those arrested, said that the territory’s government, led by Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam (林鄭月娥), was trying to “introduce a ring of terror in Hong Kong.”
“They are doing whatever they can to try to silence, to take down, the local opposition,” Mo said, pointing to legislative elections in September, in which democrats hope to win back veto power in the Hong Kong Legislative Council.
Hong Kong Police Force Superintendent Lam Wing-ho (林穎濠) told reporters that 14 people aged between 24 and 81 were arrested on charges of organizing and participating in “unlawful assemblies” on Aug. 18, Oct. 1 and Oct. 20 last year.
He did not identify the people.
Those days saw big and at-times violent protests across the territory.
Five of the 14 were also arrested for publicizing unauthorized public meetings on Sept. 30 and Oct. 19 last year, Lam Wing-ho said.
They were all scheduled to appear in court on May 18, but he said that more arrests were possible.
It was not known whether any of those arrested yesterday were being held in detention.
The raids mark the biggest crackdown on the pro-democracy movement since the beginning of anti-government protests in the former British colony in June last year.
Protesters initially targeted a now-scrapped bill proposing to send suspects to China for trial, but the rallies broadened into demands for full democracy and a public investigation of the use of force by police.
Lai was in late February arrested on similar charges, along with veteran activists Lee Cheuk-yan (李卓人) and Yeung Sum (楊森), who were also arrested yesterday.
After his release yesterday afternoon, Martin Lee said that he felt “relieved to be listed as a defendant, because I have seen many brilliant young people being arrested, but I didn’t.”
“I don’t regret what I have done,” he said. “I’m proud to have the chance to walk our democracy road with Hong Kong’s excellent young people.”
A Hong Kong Security Bureau spokesman said that regardless of background or status, “in Hong Kong, everyone is equal before the law.”
“No one is above it, nor can anyone break it without facing consequences... The police will handle the case in a fair, just and impartial manner,” the spokesman said.
The arrests came following several months of relative calm amid a partial lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but just as Chinese and Hong Kong government officials launch a new push for tougher national security laws for the territory.
The Asian financial hub returned to Beijing in 1997 under a “one country, two systems” formula that guarantees it broad freedoms not seen in China, as well as a high degree of autonomy.
A previous attempt to draft a national security law for Hong Kong, known as Article 23, was met with mass protests in 2003 and abandoned.
Hong Kong government and security officials have described some of the democracy movement’s actions as being close to terrorism.
Authorities are increasingly using the threat of terrorism to justify the need for new national security laws, a requirement under the Basic Law — the mini-constitution that guarantees Hong Kong’s broad freedoms and outlines its relationship with Beijing.
Authorities in Hong Kong have arrested more than 7,800 people over their involvement in the past year’s protests, including many on rioting charges that can carry jail terms of up to 10 years. It is not clear how many of them are in custody.
China’s state media has repeatedly demanded that Hong Kong’s independent judiciary take tough measures against protests.
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