HK activist Joshua Wong arrested again, vows to fight on
HONG KONG, China — Prominent Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong was arrested Thursday for taking part in a protest at the height of the city's pro-democracy unrest last year, but he vowed to continue resisting China’s crackdown on dissent.
The arrest of the territory's most high-profile dissident is the latest in a string of arrests of government critics and comes after China imposed a sweeping new national security law on Hong Kong in late June.
Wong was arrested for "unlawful assembly" over a 2019 demonstration against a government ban on face masks that was imposed before the coronavirus pandemic, his lawyer said.
Later Thursday the European Union criticised the move, saying it was "the latest in a troubling series of arrests of pro-democracy activists since the summer".
Wong, 23, who now faces three separate court cases, said after being bailed that he was also held for violating the "draconian" anti-mask law, which has since been ruled unconstitutional.
Wong's lawyer told AFP he was re-arrested when he reported to a police station concerning another case currently being tried.
"Wong is accused of participating in an unlawful assembly on October 5 last year, when hundreds marched to oppose an anti-mask ban the government rolled out," lawyer Jonathan Man said.
A police spokesman confirmed a 23-year-old was arrested for "knowingly participating in unauthorised assembly" while violating the mask ban.
Wong told reporters after he was bailed: "No matter what happens, I will continue to resist and hope to let the world to know that how Hong Kongers choose not to surrender."
At the time of the October 5 march, Hong Kong had already been battered by four months of increasingly violent pro-democracy protests.
The city had ground to a halt following a night of chaos in which hardcore protesters trashed dozens of subway stations, vandalised shops with mainland China ties, built fires and blocked roads.
Hundreds of protesters, almost all masked, staged the unsanctioned demonstration through the popular shopping district of Causeway Bay, a day after the city's leader Carrie Lam outlawed face coverings by invoking colonial-era emergency powers not used for half a century.
Under Hong Kong's current anti-virus measures, face masks are now mandatory in all public places.
Jailed twice
China's security law, which was imposed in late June, was designed to stamp out the demonstrations and targets acts deemed to be secession, subversion, terrorism and foreign collusion.
Beijing has described it as a "sword" hanging over the heads of its opponents as it pushes to return stability. Critics say it has blanketed the city in fear, and UN rights experts warned its broad wording posed a serious risk to Hong Kong's freedoms.
Wong — who spent most of his teenage years leading protests and has twice been jailed — recently told AFP he constantly wonders how long it will be before the police's new national security unit comes for him.
The security law has already swept up two of his closest comrades.
Fellow former student leader Nathan Law has fled to Britain and is now wanted for national security crimes, according to Chinese state media.
Agnes Chow — who has led protests alongside Wong since they were just 15 — is one of 22 people arrested under the new law so far. She has been released on bail.
Millions march in Hong Kong in a powerful rebuke of an extradition law feared to expose them to China's capricious justice system.
Hong Kong national security police on Thursday detained four people, including the brother of prominent activist Dennis Kwok, one of eight fugitives with bounties on their heads for allegedly breaching national security.
The city's national security department "took in two men and two women from various districts in Hong Kong and Kowloon for investigation," a police source told AFP.
Among the four was the elder brother of former democracy lawmaker Dennis Kwok, who is currently in the United States.
"(Kwok's elder brother) is now under investigation in the Western District police station," the source said.
Three others, "two women and a man", were taken in Tuesday by the national security department, authorities told AFP earlier Thursday.
AFP has requested comment from police on the most recent detentions. — AFP
Three family members of exiled democracy activist Nathan Law have been taken in for questioning on Tuesday, days after authorities issued a bounty on him and seven others accused of breaching the city's national security law.
Police officers from the national security department brought in Law's parents and elder brother without formally arresting them, a police source confirmed to AFP.
"It's understood that officers from the NSD took three people -- Nathan Law's parents and elder brother -- in for questioning," they said.
"So far, no arrest has been made." — AFP
The United States condemns Hong Kong authorities for issuing bounties linked to democracy activists based abroad, saying the move sets a dangerous precedent that could threaten human rights.
Hong Kong police offered bounties of HK$1 million (about $127,600) for information leading to the capture of eight prominent dissidents who live abroad and are wanted for national security crimes.
"The United States condemns the Hong Kong Police Force's issuance of an international bounty" against the eight activists, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller says in a statement.
"The extraterritorial application of the Beijing-imposed National Security Law is a dangerous precedent that threatens the human rights and fundamental freedoms of people all over the world," he adds, saying China is engaging in "transnational repression efforts."
"We call on the Hong Kong government to immediately withdraw this bounty, respect other countries' sovereignty, and stop the international assertion of the National Security Law imposed by Beijing." — AFP
Hong Kong's top court has quashed the conviction of a journalist in relation to her investigation into an attack on democracy supporters by government loyalists in 2019.
It was a rare victory for the press industry in a city where two major independent news outlets have been forced to shut down since Beijing imposed a national security law in 2020.
"Happy -- I could not think of another word that can describe my mood right now," veteran journalist Bao Choy said outside the Court of Final Appeal after the judgement was handed down.
"I think this kind of happiness belongs to everyone in society." — AFP
Hong Kong police detained Alexandra Wong, a prominent democracy activist better known as "Grandma Wong" on Sunday, the 34th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown, AFP reporters said.
Wong was carrying flowers in Hong Kong's Causeway Bay shopping district, an area that for years was the site of June 4, 1989, commemorations, before authorities escorted her to a police van. AFP reporters saw a total of six people bundled into police vehicles. — AFP
- Latest
- Trending
