HONG KONG

Pro-democracy politicians staged a brief protest in the legislature on Friday to call for the release of 12 activists arrested by Chinese authorities at sea last month as they tried to flee to Taiwan by boat. Chinese police have said the 12, who are all suspected of crimes in Hong Kong related to anti-government protests that erupted last year, were suspected of illegal border crossing. Their detention in Shenzhen has become a lightning rod for criticism of the territory’s Beijing-backed government. In a related development, democracy activist Joshua Wong was arrested on Thursday on another charge of participating in an unauthorised assembly in October 2019 and violating the city’s anti-mask law. He was later released on bail.