Arrest of riot leaders signals tougher HK law-enforcement
‘Catch and release’ reveals absence of Article 23
Hong H Kong police detained several major m figures of anti-government forces fo on Friday who are also riot leaders le who incited street violence that th sent the once-prosperous Asian financial hub to a months-long social tu turmoil, underscoring the local au authorities’ determination to bring la lawless political figures to justice.
However, the three were soon re released on bail, exposing loopholes ag again in Hong Kong judicial system an and making the passage of the A Article 23 legislation an urgent missi sion, observers said.
The Hong Kong Police Force detained several riot leaders, includin ing Apple Daily founder Jimmy Lai Chee-ying and pan-democratic figures Lee Cheuk-yan and Yeung Sum on Friday for taking part in an illegal as assembly and criminal intimidation.
Observers considered the arrests a sy symbolic move against illegal politica cal activities, and the arrests also put a major test on the city’s judicial sy system.
Lai, who owns the anti-gover ernment tabloid Apple Daily, was ar arrested Friday morning after several offi officers from the crime unit came to h his residence in Ho Man Tin, local media reports said. Ex-legislators Lee and Yeung were also detained by police at their homes, and police sa said that the arrests were made for an unlawful assembly on August 31, 2 2019 and a related criminal intimid dation case.
The three were released on bail at n noon, and they will appear in court on May 5, the police said.
These arrests show local authorities are determined to hold political figures accountable no matter what their social and political status. However, such “catch and release” tactics since the “Occupy Central” movement in 2014 until the anti-extradition bill movement in 2019 seriously undermine the city’s rule of law, posing serious questions to its social stability and challenges to the country’s sovereignty, observers said.
Charging those political figures also sent out a strong message that the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government will not allow individuals to jeopardize Hong Kong’s rule of law and democratic order, given the upcoming key elections. However, to handle the judicial proceedings, the passage of Article 23 legislation has become an urgent mission, which will ensure improving the enforcement mechanism to solve problems.
Lawrence Ma, a barrister and chairman of the Hong Kong Legal Exchange Foundation, said that the Article 23 legislation is a constitutional requirement and it is essential for Hong Kong to be equipped with this law. “Once Article 23 is in place, political figures like Lai and Lee would be liable for more serious charges of subversion and sedition.”
During the months of protests that turned into riots, which weighed heavily on Hong Kong’s social stability, anti-government figures were seen as typical examples of modern traitors, as these so-called “democratic” leaders have had unprecedented levels of contact with the US government and Western parliaments, forming increasingly brazen collusion tactics that have fueled the expansion of street politics in Hong Kong, observers said.
Apple Daily covered the monthslong anti-government protests in a biased manner by focusing on law enforcement by police and depicting it as “police brutality” while ignoring the fact that protesters constantly provoked police first.
When Lai attended a rally at Victoria Park in June 2017, he suddenly approached a Hong Kong Oriental Daily reporter who was interviewing at the scene and insulted and intimidated him. After the incident, Lai recorded a statement at the Hong Kong Island Regional Crime Squad in August 2018 at the request of the police, but the Justice Department did not file a case.
It is an open secret in Hong Kong that the forces protesting the extradition bill have been sponsored by the US. Lai was exposed to be closely related to US intelligence personnel, according to media reports.
“These arrests show that their political activities are illegal and will eventually face justice. There is no justification to violating the law,” Lawrence Tang Fei, a member of the Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macao Studies, said.
“Justice may be delayed but never absent,” a Hong Kong resident said after reports about their arrests were released.