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HONG KONG: More than 50 pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong were arrested on Wednesday (January 6) on suspicion of violating the city’s national security law, local media reported, in the largest crackdown to date against the democratic opposition under the new law.
The arrests in the Asian financial center included well-known Democratic figures and former lawmakers James To, Lam Cheuk-ting and Lester Shum, according to the Facebook page of the Democratic Party and public broadcaster RTHK.
Police did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
FILE PHOTO: Pro-democracy lawmaker James To poses in front of the Legislative Council logo inside the council building in Hong Kong on December 4, 2014. REUTERS / Bobby Yip / File Photo
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The Democratic Party’s Facebook page said police arrested the activists for participating in an independently organized vote last year to select Democratic candidates for a legislative election, which the Hong Kong and Beijing governments warned at the time could violate the new law.
Legislative elections were due to be held in September, but were postponed, and authorities cited coronavirus risks.
The attempt to win a majority in the 70-seat city legislature, which some candidates said could be used to block government proposals and increase pressure for democratic reforms, was seen as an “act of subversion, in violation of the law of National security”. said the party.
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FILE PHOTO: Former student leader Lester Shum speaks during a protest in support of student leaders who were jailed for their involvement in the 2014 pro-democracy Umbrella Movement in Hong Kong.
Beijing imposed the security law on the former British colony in June.
It punishes what China broadly defines as secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces with up to life imprisonment and has been condemned by the West and human rights groups as a tool to crush dissent in the city.
Authorities in Hong Kong and Beijing say it is vital to plug gaps in national security defenses exposed by months of sometimes violent anti-government and anti-China protests that rocked the global financial center in 2019.
DISQUALIFICATIONS, EXILE
Since the imposition of the security law, prominent pro-democracy activists such as media mogul Jimmy Lai have been detained, some democratic lawmakers disqualified, activists have been exiled and slogans declared illegal. and protest songs.
READ: Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai’s bail revoked
Joshua Wong, 24, one of Hong Kong’s most prominent activists, was one of more than a dozen young and more contentious politicians who overshadowed the old guard Democrats in last July’s unofficial primary elections.
Wong’s Twitter and Facebook accounts said his home was raided by police in the morning.
Wong was jailed last year on separate charges for organizing and inciting an illegal gathering during the 2019 anti-government protests.
The success of the young contenders in the democratic primaries, which Beijing said were illegal, came amid widespread resentment over a national security law that Beijing imposed last month.
