On Saturday, Hong Kong Police arrested 15 activists in raids, in what can be described as the biggest clampdown on Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement since the outbreak of mass revolt in 2019. The arrested activists taken into custody and charged for illegal gathering include; Martin Lee who is a veteran politician and the Democratic Party founder.
Along with Jimmy Lai a publishing mogul, Margaret Ng a senior barrister, former lawmaker and 9 former legislators with Leung Yin-Chung a serving legislator. According to Democratic legislator Claudia Mo, the arrest of these activists by the city government under Chief Executive Carrie Lam is an attempt that would fuel a ring of terror in the City.
He stated further that the city government is driving at silencing, forcefully taking down the local opposition. He drew light on the legislative election coming up in the ninth month of the year where the Democrats intend to collect back veto power in the city assembly.
Superintendent Lam Wing-ho confirmed that 14 people were arrested last year and charged for illegal gathering – “unlawful assemblies”. These 14 people remain undisclosed but their ages were confirmed to be between 24 and 81. 5 of the arrested 14 on Aug. 18 and Oct. 1, 2019, were charged with publicizing unauthorized public meetings in September and October of 2019.
According to the Superintendent, more arrest is possible and they arrested would be due to appear before the court of law on May 18. However, some of the arrested activists were released on bail on Saturday. One of those released on Saturday was Martin Lee. The veteran politician disclosed after his release that he has no regret. According to him, he is proud to be part of the young excellent people to walk in protest in Hongkong.
The city government has arrested more than 7,800 people protesting in Hong Kong. Some of the marchers arrested faced rioting charges which can lead to up to 10 years of jail term.
The skyrocketing rate of arrest of these marchers is as a result of intense fear over
Beijing pressure on the City’s independent judiciary.
As confirmed by 3 of Hong Kong’s judges, the city’s judicial system is under a threat from the Communist Party leadership in Beijing, the capital of China. Under a ‘’one country, two systems’’ Hong Kong returned to Beijing 24 years ago. (1997).
A mass protest broke out in 2003 following an attempt to draft Article 23 for Hongkong. The city officials and Hong Kong government likened the marchers’ democracy movement action to something close to terrorism.
