Hong Kong police arrest dozens of opposition politicians for alleged subversion

The police operation is the largest since the sweeping national security law was enacted six months ago, and activists said the arrests were the first in connection with alleged subversion, a serious crime under that law. The reach and profile of those arrested, including most of Hong Kong’s opposition, marks a dramatic escalation in the authorities’ efforts to quell disagreements in the city, which was haunted in 2019 by months of street protests against the government.

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

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

The Democratic camp resigned en masse in November after some of their peers were expelled from the legislature for disloyal after a Beijing ruling.

Police did not comment on the arrests.

Among those arrested on Wednesday included 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 was a student leader during a 79 street occupation in 2014, known as the umbrella movement.

According to local media, legal academic Benny Tai, one of the organizers of the primaries, was also arrested; and top researcher Robert Chung, who assisted with 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.

“This is shameful and ridiculous. How can people taking part in a pre-election to select candidates be subversive? “said Emily Lau, who served seven terms as lawmaker and previously led the city’s Democratic Party.” It is a blatant attempt to intimidate pro-democracy activists and warn people not to participate in politics and cooperation.

Ng Kin Wai recorded his arrest on a Facebook livestream, where a police officer tells him he was arrested for running in primaries designed to malfunction the Hong Kong government – undermining, according to national security law. The primaries were conceived by Mr. Tai to overhaul Hong Kong’s system, an officer said in the video, referring to the academic’s writings in the media.

Sunny Cheung, a participant in the primaries, said the arrests show his decision to flee abroad after the national security law came into effect was correct, albeit painful.

“This is clearly a political purge to wipe out the entire pro-democracy camp,” said Mr. Cheung. “The cleansing continues.”

The law, imposed by Beijing on June 30 after massive pro-democracy protests at times brought the city to a standstill in 2019, gives authorities ample leeway to prosecute people for acts perceived as collusion, secession or sedition.

—Wenxin Fan contributed to this article.

Write to Natasha Khan at [email protected]