Hong Kong police arrest dozens of opposition politicians for alleged undermining

The police operation is the largest since the comprehensive national security law was introduced six months ago, and activists said the arrests were first linked to alleged undermining, a serious crime under the law. The scale and profile of the people arrested, who make up the bulk of Hong Kong’s opposition, is a dramatic increase in authorities’ efforts to dispel disagreements in the city, fueled by months of protests against the government was plagued in 2019.

Less than two weeks after the security law was enacted, the opposition camp took part in self-organized by-elections over the weekend of 11 and 12 July to select preferred candidates for elections scheduled for September. The aim was to improve the chances of gaining a majority in the legislature, which according to the participants would enable them to block government legislation. The organizers then said that about 600,000 members of the public cast their votes.

Many of the politicians were told weeks later that their candidates were invalid, and the authorities expressed concern about their loyalty to the city and the constitution. Shortly after the disqualifications, the government postponed the election by a year, citing the coronavirus pandemic.

The Democratic camp resigned en masse in November after several of their counterparts were expelled from the legislature for being unfaithful following a Beijing ruling.

Police did not comment on the arrests.

Those arrested on Wednesday include politicians from a number of pro-democracy parties, including former lawmakers James To and Alvin Yeung and new-generation activists such as Gwyneth Ho, a former journalist, and Lester Shum, who during a 79-year-old student leader. street occupation in 2014, known as the umbrella movement.

According to local media, legal academic Benny Tai, one of the primary organizers, was also arrested; and top pollster Robert Chung, who helped with the logistics. Authorities also visited Joshua Wong’s home, according to social media reports from friends who wrote on his behalf. He is already serving a prison sentence for organizing a protest in 2019.

“It is shameful and ridiculous. How can people running in a primary election to choose candidates be subversive? ” says Emily Lau, who served seven terms as a legislator and previously headed the city’s Democratic Party. “It is a blatant attempt to intimidate pro-democracy activists and warn people not to engage in politics and cooperation.”

Ng Kin Wai recorded his arrest in a live Facebook photo, showing a police officer telling him that he had been arrested for running in the by-elections intended to make Hong Kong’s government dysfunctional – undermining, under national security legislation. The pre-election was by mr. Tai is considering revamping Hong Kong’s system, one official said in the video, citing the academic’s writing in the media.

Sunny Cheung, a contestant in the primary, said the arrests show that his decision to flee overseas after the National Security Act came into force was right, albeit painful.

“This is, of course, a political attempt to wipe out the entire pro-democracy camp,” he said. Cheung said. “The cleaning will continue.”

The law, introduced by Beijing on June 30 after major protest-democracy protests, sometimes brought the city to a standstill in 2019, giving authorities a wide margin to prosecute people for acts considered conspiracy, secession or rioting .

—Wenxin Fan contributed to this article.

Write to Natasha Khan by [email protected]