The Hong Kong Police National Security Branch raided the University of Hong Kong Students’ Union on Friday (July 16). Last week, the student union’s leader issued a statement expressing condolences for the death of Leung Kin-fai, a man who committed suicide after stabbing a police officer on the street on July 1, but later issued a statement apologizing, withdrawing his condolences and saying he had no intention of encouraging illegal behavior.
The South China Morning Post, an English-language newspaper in Hong Kong, reported that no student union members were present at the time of the police raid on the HKUSU office. It is also unclear what police confiscated or what arrests were made there. Police have not yet made any comments on the matter.
Earlier this week, Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam urged the University and the police to act on the issue of student union leaders expressing deep condolences for the death of Leung and “appreciation for his sacrifice for Hong Kong.
Despite the apology from the student union leader, the University of Hong Kong authorities issued a statement saying they no longer recognize the student union and would investigate the incident and take “action against the students concerned.
Beijing has imposed a so-called Hong Kong version of national security laws in Hong Kong since July 1 last year in response to the massive protests that have continued in the city since 2019. The protesters demanded that Beijing fulfill the promise it made in 1997 when it took back Hong Kong’s sovereignty and allow Hong Kong to implement genuine “one country, two systems” and elect its chief executive by universal suffrage. Protesters demanded that the Hong Kong government investigate the violent suppression of peaceful protesters by the Hong Kong police.
The introduction and implementation of the Hong Kong version of the National Security Law is widely seen as a declaration that Hong Kong’s “one country, two systems” has been aborted, as it gives the Communist authorities in Beijing direct control over the Hong Kong police to crack down on anyone or any organization that Beijing does not like, and the Hong Kong police department responsible for enforcing the National Security Law is not subject to judicial review in Hong Kong. Restrictions.
On Friday, China’s National Association for the Study of Hong Kong and Macau held a seminar on the first anniversary of the implementation of the Hong Kong SAR’s national security law. The seminar was held in Beijing, Hong Kong and Macau via a web link. Xia Baolong, director of the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the Chinese State Council, said at the meeting that the implementation of the Hong Kong SAR’s national security law has had an immediate effect.
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