Hong Kong: Hundreds of people were arrested during protests against postponement of regional elections

Hong Kong police fired pepper spray balls at protesters protesting the government’s decision to postpone legislative elections in the province.

About 300 people were arrested in an unauthorized demonstration Sunday night.

The elections were scheduled for Sunday, September 6, but the government postponed them for a year, considering that the postponement was necessary, given the high incidence of the Coronavirus.

The opposition accuses the government of using the epidemic as an excuse to prevent people from voting.

Opposition activists hoped to win a majority in the provincial legislature, capitalizing on anger over Beijing’s imposition of Hong Kong’s controversial national security law and fears of eroding freedoms in the region.

Hong Kong, a former British colony, was returned to China in 1997 under an agreement designed to guarantee a high degree of autonomy for a period of 50 years.

And pro-democracy candidates made unprecedented strides in district council elections last year, winning in 17 of 18 councils.

What happened at the protests on Sunday?

Thousands of people took to the streets of Hong Kong to commemorate the scheduled date of the elections.

They shouted, “Give us back our right to vote,” and groups of protesters marched a short distance before heavily armed riot police confronted them.

Local media reported that at least 289 people were arrested.

“I want my right to vote! It is a shame that the government postpones the elections,” said a local news site, citing one of the detainees, Young Kwok-hong.

Earlier, a prominent opposition activist, Tam Tak Che, was arrested on charges of delivering hate speech against the government.

He was detained by the police, who are working to enforce the strict national security law on Chinese soil, which was imposed by the Beijing government last June and criminalizes many forms of political expression.