Hong Kong Police in Hong Kong on Wednesday arrested 53 former lawmakers and pro-democracy activists, including a U.S. human rights lawyer, for allegedly violating a new national security legislation by taking part in unofficial elections for the area’s legislature last year. The mass arrests have been the biggest action against Hong Kong’s democracy movement since the law was introduced by Beijing last year to suppress discord in the semi-autonomous region.
“The operation today is aimed at the active elements that are suspected of being involved in the overthrow, or interference (s) that are seriously destroying the legal process of the Hong Kong government,” Hong Kong Security Minister John Lee said in a statement. news conference said. .
AP
He said the detainees were suspected of trying to paralyze the government by gaining a majority of seats in the legislature, thus creating a situation in which the chief executive had to resign and the government would cease to function.
In a video posted on the Facebook page of former lawmaker Lam Cheuk-ting, police are seen arriving at his home and telling him that he is “suspected of violating the national security law, and the state power undermined. ” Police told those who recorded the video to stop or arrest him.
The legislative election that would follow the unofficial pre-election was postponed by Hong Kong CEO Carrie Lam by a year, citing the risks to public health during the coronavirus pandemic. Massive resignations and disqualifications of pro-democracy lawmakers left the legislature largely a pro-Beijing body.
Lee said police would not target those who voted in the unofficial by-election, held in July last year and attracted more than 600,000 voters, although Beijing lawmakers and politicians warned that the event violated the Security Act. may transgress.
Who was arrested?
All the candidates for democracy in the unofficial by-election have been arrested, according to reports by the South China Morning Post, the online platform Now News and political groups.
At least seven members of Hong Kong’s Democratic Party – the city’s largest opposition party – have been arrested, including former party chairman Wu Chi-wai. Former lawmakers Lam, Helena Wong and James To were also arrested, according to a report on the party’s Facebook page.
Benny Tai, a key figure in Hong Kong’s protests in 2014 and a former law professor, was also arrested. Tai was one of the main organizers of the by-elections.
The home of Joshua Wong, a prominent pro-democracy activist serve a prison sentence of 13 1/2 months for organizing and participating in an unauthorized protest last year, was also shut down, according to a tweet posted from Wong’s account.
U.S. human rights lawyer arrested
U.S. human rights lawyer John Clancey was also arrested Wednesday. Clancey was the treasurer of the political group Power for Democracy, which was involved in the unofficial primary election.
“We need to work for democracy and human rights in Hong Kong,” Clancey said as he was led by police, in a video posted by local online news agency Citizen News.
Police also went to the headquarters of Stand News, a prominent pro-democracy online news site in Hong Kong, with a court order to hand over documents to help with an investigation into national law, according to a live video from Stand News . No arrests were made.
Anthony Blinken, the nominated US Secretary of State for the upcoming government in Biden, condemned on Twitter what he said on Twitter was an “assault on those who bravely advocate for universal rights.”
“The Biden-Harris government will stand with the people of Hong Kong and oppose Beijing’s repression of democracy,” Blinken wrote in his tweet.
Alleged ‘mutual destruction’ plan
Lee also pointed to a plan for those arrested, ‘ten steps to mutual destruction’, which includes taking control of the legislature, protest marches to paralyze society and calling for international sanctions.
The plan was previously set out by former law professor Tai. He predicted that there would be ten steps to mutual destruction between 2020 and 2022, including the pro-democracy bloc winning a majority in the legislature, intensifying protests, and the forced resignation of CEO Carrie Lam, because the budget bill is rejected twice, and international sanctions against the Chinese Communist Party.
The concept of mutual destruction – in which Hong Kong and China are suffering – is popular with some protesters and pro-democracy activists.
“The plan is to create such mutual destruction that, if successful, will result in serious damage to society,” Lee said. “That is why police action is needed today.”
Senior Superintendent Steve Li of the National Security Unit said at a news conference that 53 people – 45 men and eight women between the ages of 23 and 64 – were arrested during an operation involving 1,000 officers.
Six were arrested for undermining state power by organizing the unofficial primary, while the rest were arrested for allegedly taking part in the event, Li said. He said more arrests could be made and investigations are ongoing.
An increasing repression
In recent months, Hong Kong has already jailed several pro-democracy activists, including Wong and Agnes Chow, for their involvement in anti-government protests, and others have been charged under national security law, including the media magnet and outspoken pro-democracy activist Jimmy Lai.
The security law criminalizes acts of undermining, secession, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces to intervene in the city’s affairs. Serious offenders can be sentenced to life in prison.
Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam said during the unofficial by-elections last year that if their goal was to resist any policy initiative by the Hong Kong government, the election could fall under the subversive state power, a transgression among the national law.
Beijing also called the by-elections illegal and a “serious provocation” of Hong Kong’s electoral system.
Following the handover of Hong Kong to China by the British in 1997, the semi-autonomous Chinese city operated a “one country, two systems” framework that offered freedoms not found on the mainland. In recent years, Beijing has claimed more control of the city and criticized its breach of its promise that Hong Kong would uphold separate civil rights and political systems 50 years from the handover.
Human Rights Watch said the arrests indicated that Beijing could not realize that repression was creating resistance. Maya Wang, senior Chinese researcher at HRW, said in a statement that “millions of Hong Kong people will persevere in their struggle for their right to vote and stand for election in a democratically elected government.”
In further remarks to The Associated Press, Wang said it was not clear what provisions of the law were quoted to justify the arrests, but that local authorities seemed less concerned about the substantive content.
“The nature of national security legislation is a draconian blanket law that allows the government to arrest people for the long term and possibly put them in jail for exercising their constitutionally protected rights,” Wang said.
“The veneer of the rule of law is also applied to mainland China, without any meaning. Hong Kong looks more like mainland China, but where one ends and the other begins, it is difficult to distinguish,” he said. she said.