The Hong Kong Police Force deployed nearly 1,000 police officers on Wednesday (6) morning to arrest 53 people who participated in the democratic primary election last year for violating the “National Security Law”, and asked three media outlets to hand over relevant information. The pro-democracy camp held a press conference that afternoon, criticizing the Hong Kong government for creating white terror, not only does not respect the right of Hong Kong people to vote under the protection of the Basic Law, but also confronts public opinion.
The police explained at the press conference on the 6th afternoon that nearly 1,000 people were deployed to arrest the democrats this time. Senior Superintendent Li Guihua of the National Security Division of the Police said that 53 people were arrested for allegedly violating Article 22(3) of the National Security Law, “seriously interfering with, disrupting and obstructing the HKSAR in the performance of its functions in accordance with the law”, of which six were “organizing and planning roles” and the remaining 47 were “participants”. The remaining 47 people were “participants”. The police also searched more than 70 places, including lawyers’ offices, public opinion organizations and offices, served material submission orders to four media organizations to obtain information related to the case, and froze $1.6 million in related funds.
After the police press conference, the Chairman of the Civic Party, Mr. Leung Ka Kit, the Chairman of the Democratic Party, Mr. Lo Kin Hei and other representatives of democratic political parties and a number of independent District Council members held a press conference in response to the authorities’ largest arrest of the democratic camp after 97.
Lo Kin-hei said that the Democratic Party has so far arrested a total of seven people, and has not yet been released on bail. He criticized the government’s indiscriminate arrests as proof that the regime has chosen to confront public opinion and create white terror in society: “When Hong Kong people express their views through the District Council election, through the primary election, through different means, the government chooses not to listen, but to retaliate. Today’s national security law is slowly becoming a universal key law, in the streets will use the national security law to warn you, you can take out a piece of white paper can sue you for violating the national security law, you call slogans also sue you for violating the national security law, do primary election election also said you violate the national security law, the national security law has become a universal key, what we see is white terror.”
He stressed that the primary election is very reasonable and normal, there is absolutely no misconduct: “If even the primary election can be forced to slander, raw security white fabrication refers to will endanger national security, this national security is also very fragile. Hong Kong people should be united and continue to work hard to support each other and persevere in the dark is the most important.”
For Secretary for Security Lee Ka-chiu said that the arrested democrats “plot” to paralyze the operation of the SAR government through the primary election, and described the primary election is a “nefarious plan”, the Civic Party Chairman Leung Ka-kit condemned Lee Ka-chiu to smear the primary election candidates. “It is clear who is pushing Hong Kong into the abyss of doom and gloom. It is very clear that it is the regime that does not act according to the Basic Law, not the people who participated in the primaries.”
Alan Leong stressed that no matter how much the government smears, 600,000 people still voted in the primary election. He criticized the authorities for not respecting the human rights conventions and the constitutionally protected right to vote, and rebuked Senior Superintendent of Police Lee Kwai-wah for using the analogy of “holding a car and robbing a bank” as a major raid, which is incestuous: “The original intention to win the seat is to subvert the state, and now it can be pushed to this conclusion. You use the bank robbery metaphor for millions of voters, one person, one vote, to complete the 35+ plan, is completely unrelated to the wind and ox, the metaphor is incestuous. Now when hundreds of thousands of voting voters are robbing a bank?” .
At present, the arrested people, in addition to the district of Nuo Xuan has been released on bail, arranged for the designated hotel to receive quarantine, the rest of the people still have not been released on bail. The Democratic Party said that after communicating with lawyers, it is expected that the arrested people will be held overnight for investigation.
Pro-establishment MP Michael Tien also questioned the police action, he questioned on Facebook the police invoked the National Security Law 22, paragraph 3: “Another element of this law is to use “unlawful means”, the police did not give a specific account of what “unlawful means” used by the people concerned “, just think the whole plan objective is illegal, the police really need to explain clearly again, otherwise how to prosecute it, in case to the court to sue does not enter, whether more blow to the prestige of governance?”
In addition, the National Security Division of the Police Department to a number of media organizations served a “material submission order” to obtain information related to the case of people involved in the democratic primary election, the Association issued a statement expressing extreme concern about the incident, that the information involved in the operation of the media, undoubtedly the journalists bring substantial and psychological threat, causing a chilling effect, so that the industry self-censorship, guess the bottom line and other issues to accelerate the deterioration.
The statement also said that before the implementation of the National Security Law, the HKJA had submitted a submission to the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, suggesting that the “Hong Kong version of the National Security Law” was tantamount to placing a sharp edge on the heads of Hong Kong people. The Association believes that when the sharp edge gets closer, it will have a negative impact on the various freedoms that Hong Kong people originally enjoy and shake Hong Kong’s status as an international financial center.
On Wednesday, the Hong Kong police arrested 53 people who initiated or participated in last year’s pro-democracy primary election, saying that they responded to the “ten-part campaign” proposed by legal scholar Dai Yaoting, who tried to get elected to the Legislative Council and then joined forces to veto the government budget and force Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor to resign, allegedly violating the “Hong Kong version of the National Security Law” in Article 22 of the crime of subversion of state power, item 3, “seriously interfering with, obstructing or undermining the performance of the functions of the authorities in accordance with the law.
The arrested persons include Tai Yiu-ting, who coordinated the primary election, a number of former legislators from the democratic camp, and incumbent district councilors. A number of arrests were also made by Democracy Power, which coordinated the 35+ primary election, including John Clancey, the treasurer of Democracy Power and an American human rights lawyer who coordinated the primary election for the democratic camp. (John Clancey), who was involved in coordinating the democratic primary election. This is the first time since the passage of the “Hong Kong version of the National Security Law” that the police have arrested a U.S. citizen and searched a lawyer’s building. This was reported by international media such as Reuters, the Guardian and Taiwan‘s Central News Agency. As for the 600,000 people who voted in the primary election, the police said they would not conduct a criminal investigation.
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