HK police arrest more activists
HONG KONG: Police arrested nine democracy activists yesterday over a November protest outside Beijing’s representative office in Hong Kong, in what one of those detained said was a campaign to stifle opposition.
The arrests followed the charging on Wednesday of two disqualified proindependence legislators over a separate incident in November, when they tried to barge into a meeting of the city’s Legislative Council.
“Nine people have been taken from their respective homes to the police station,” Raphael Wong, a leader of the League of Social Democrats opposition party, said via text message.
Wong said the nine faced charges related to a Nov 6 demonstration when thousands of people protested against an interpretation by Beijing of Hong Kong’s mini constitution, which activists denounced as interference.
Hong Kong democracy activists worry about what they see as increasing interference in Hong Kong’s affairs by Beijing despite a system meant to guarantee the autonomy of the Chinese-ruled financial hub.
Police did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
One of the nine, student Derek Lam, 23, said he had been charged with inciting others to commit public nuisance before being released on bail.
Lam said he believed the city’s outgoing leader, chief executive Leung Chun-ying, wanted to scare off opposition before he steps down at the end of June.
“He is clearly trying to eliminate and scare those who want to want to fight for democracy, the legislators and the students, through arrests and legal tactics,” Lam told reporters outside the police station.
Leung’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Ten out of the city’s 30 opposition lawmakers are fighting various court cases.
The city’s new leader, Carrie Lam, selected for the top job in March, has vowed to heal divisions in the city.
The former British colony, governed under a “one country, two systems” formula, was promised a high degree of autonomy and the right to select its chief executive when it was handed back to Chinese rule in 1997.
But 20 years later, only 1,200 people on an “election committee” stacked with Beijing loyalists voted Lam into power.
The two disqualified legislators, Yau Waiching, 25, and Baggio Leung, 30, have been told to appear in court today. – Reuters