Hong Kong – Hong Kong police on Wednesday arrested 53 former lawmakers and democracy advocates, including a US human rights lawyer, for alleged violation of a new national security law by participating in unofficial election primaries last year for the area legislature. The mass arrests were the biggest action against Hong Kong’s democracy movement since the law was imposed by Beijing last June to quell dissent in the semi-autonomous region.
“Today’s operation focuses on the active elements suspected of being involved in the crime of overthrow or intervention (and) serious destruction of the statutory duties of the Hong Kong government,” said John Lee, the Secretary of Security of Hong Kong. Hong Kong, at a press conference. .
AP
He said those detained were suspected of trying to paralyze the government by securing a majority of seats in the legislature, creating a situation where the president would have to resign and the government would stop functioning.
In a video posted to former lawmaker Lam Cheuk-ting’s Facebook page, police are seen showing up at his house and telling him he is “suspected of violating national security law and undermining state power.” Police told those recording the video to stop or run the risk of arrest.
The parliamentary elections that would have followed the unofficial primaries were postponed for a year by Hong Kong CEO Carrie Lam, who mentioned the public health risks during the coronavirus pandemic. Mass resignations and disqualifications of pro-democracy lawmakers have left the legislature largely a pro-Beijing body.
Lee said police would not target those who voted in the unofficial primaries, which were held last July and attracted more than 600,000 voters, even though pro-Beijing lawmakers and politicians had warned the event could violate security law.
Who has been arrested?
All pro-democracy candidates in the unofficial primaries were arrested, according to the numbers of the arrests reported by the South China Morning Post, Now News online platform and political groups.
At least seven members of the Hong Kong Democratic Party – the city’s largest opposition party – were arrested, including former party chairman Wu Chi-wai. Former lawmakers Lam, Helena Wong and James To were also arrested, according to a post on the party’s Facebook page.
Benny Tai, a key figure in the 2014 Occupy Central protests in Hong Kong and a former law professor, was also arrested, reports said. Tai was one of the main organizers of the primaries.
The home of Joshua Wong, a prominent pro-democracy activist serving a sentence of 13 1/2 months in prison for organizing and participating in an unauthorized protest last year, was also raided, according to a tweet posted from Wong’s account.
US human rights lawyer arrested
American human rights lawyer John Clancey was also arrested on Wednesday. Clancey was the treasurer of the Power for Democracy political group, which was involved in the unofficial primaries.
“We have to work for democracy and human rights in Hong Kong,” Clancey said as he was led away by police, in a video posted by local online news outlet 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 aid in a national security law investigation, according to a live stream video from Stand. News. . No arrests were made.
The sweeping arrests were condemned by Anthony Blinken, the US Secretary of State’s candidate for the upcoming Biden administration, who said on Twitter that it was an “attack on those who bravely advocate universal rights.”
“The Biden-Harris government will stand behind the people of Hong Kong and Beijing’s crackdown on democracy,” Blinken wrote in his tweet.
Alleged plan for “mutual destruction”
Lee also pointed to a “10 Steps to Mutual Destruction” plan among those arrested, including taking over the legislature, mobilizing protests to paralyze society and calling for international sanctions.
That plan was previously outlined by former law professor Tai. He predicted there would be 10 steps to mutual annihilation between 2020 and 2022, including the pro-democracy bloc winning a majority in the legislature, intensifying protests, the forced resignation of Chief Executive Carrie Lam because the budget bill was twice rejected, and international sanctions against the Chinese Communist Party.
The concept of mutual destruction – which would harm both Hong Kong and China – is popular with some protesters and pro-democracy activists.
“The plot is to create such a mutual destruction that if successful… will result in serious damage to society as a whole,” said Lee. “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 in an operation involving 1,000 officers.
Six were arrested for undermining state power by organizing the unofficial primaries, while the rest were arrested for alleged participation in the event, Li said. He said more arrests could be made and investigations were ongoing.
An increasing crackdown
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 media mogul and outspoken pro-democracy activist Jimmy Lai.
The security law criminalizes subversion, secession, terrorism and collusion with foreign powers to intervene in the affairs of the city. Serious offenders can receive a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam had said last year at the time of the unofficial primaries that if their goal was to oppose any policy initiative by the Hong Kong government, the elections could fall under the undermining of state power, a crime under national law. security law.
Beijing also called the primaries illegal and a “serious provocation” of the Hong Kong electoral system.
After the handover of Hong Kong to China by the British in 1997, the semi-autonomous Chinese city operated on the basis of a “one country, two systems” framework that affords its freedoms not found on the mainland. In recent years, Beijing has exercised more control over the city, criticizing it breaking its promise that Hong Kong would maintain separate civil rights and political systems for 50 years after the handover.
Human Rights Watch said the arrests indicate that Beijing has not been informed that repression is generating resistance. HRW senior China researcher Maya Wang said in a statement that “millions of Hong Kong people will persist in their fight for their right to vote and run for office in a democratically elected government.”
In further comments to The Associated Press, Wang said it was not clear which provisions of the law were cited to justify the arrests, but local authorities seem less concerned about the legal content.
“The nature of the National Security Law is like a draconian general law that allows the government to arrest and potentially imprison people for the long term for exercising their constitutionally protected rights,” Wang said.
“The rule of law veneer is also applied to mainland China, stripped of any meaning. Hong Kong is more like mainland China, but where one ends and another begins is difficult to discern,” she said.