Hong Kong activists arrested, others attacked as authorities uphold ban on protest rally

(From left) Demosisto members Nathan Law, Joshua Wong and Agnes Chow responding to Carrie Lam's press conference outside Hong Kong's Legislative Council on June 18, 2019. ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI. Sketched by the Pan Pacific Agency.

HONG KONG, Aug 30, 2019, The Straits Times. A number of Hong Kong activists, including Demosisto’s Joshua Wong and Agnes Chow, were arrested on Friday (Aug 30) as the authorities upheld a police ban for planned big rally on Saturday, reported The Straits Times.

The arrests coincided with claims of attacks on activists, including mass rally organiser Jimmy Sham, by unknown men.

Mr Wong, a founder and current secretary-general of Demosisto – a group advocating Hong Kong’s self-determination – was arrested at about 7.30am while on his way to South Horizons MTR station, “when he was suddenly pushed into a private car on the street”, said Demosisto on Twitter.

“He has now been escorted to the police headquarters in Wan Chai on the basis of three charges. We will continue to follow the incident. Our lawyers are working on this case,” the political party said.

It later added that another party member, Ms Chow, 22, was arrested at her home in the morning and would be sent to Wan Chai police headquarters.

Mr Wong, 22, is reported by local broadcaster TVB to be facing charges linked to his role in the siege of Wan Chai police headquarters on June 21. He was released from prison in June after serving a two-month sentence for his role in the 2014 Umbrella Movement protest.

Meanwhile, the leader of the banned Hong Kong National Party, Mr Andy Chan Ho Tin, said he was detained at the airport on Thursday night while preparing to board a flight.

In a Facebook post, he said the detention was requested by the local police but the reason was not known.

On Friday morning, the police confirmed that a man with the surname Chan, aged 29, was arrested on Thursday night at the airport on suspicion of rioting and assaulting the police. The statement said the man was still held for questioning.

Mr Chan was among eight people arrested for possession of offensive weapons following a raid in Sha Tin earlier this month at Haribest Industrial Building on Au Pui Wan Street. Police had then said they found materials for making petrol bombs and other weapons.

Separately, there were two attacks on organisers of rallies.

The convenor of the Civil Human Rights Front, Mr Sham, told the media that he was attacked by two masked men armed with a metal rod and a baseball bat on Thursday afternoon.

Mr Sham, who was unhurt, said he was having lunch with a friend on Tak Hing Street in Jordan when two masked men went into the restaurant and lunged at them.

His friend tried to stop the men but was hit on his left arm three times and was sent to the hospital.

Earlier in the same day, a group of pro-government people had surrounded Mr Sham in a bid to “denounce” the Front. They called Mr Sham a rioter and tried to snatch a loudhailer from him, but dispersed after the police intervened.

The Front is the organiser of the biggest street marches that Hong Kong has had since the handover to Chinese rule in 1997. They include the million-strong June 9 procession, the two million turnout on June 16 and, most recently, an estimated 1.7 million on Aug 18.

On Friday around noon, the Front said that authorities have upheld a police ban on its application for protests on Saturday. Authorities refused to grant permission for a rally and march on Hong Kong Island, from Central to Beijing’s liaison office in Sai Ying Pun.

Police had previously prohibited the request, citing examples of past protests that ended in violent clashes.

The Front’s spokesman Bonnie Leung said: “The Civil Human Rights Front will continue to apply for marches, to apply for rallies with the same theme, that is the request to withdraw the decision made on Aug 31st (Saturday) and demand for universal suffrage and the five demands that have been requested and endorsed by millions of people during the anti-extradition Bill movement.”

Ms Leung called the decision to reject the Front’s appeal against the police ban on the planned protests “a total violation” of human rights in Hong Kong, adding that this could make some people more angry and drive them to take to the streets anyway.

The march planned for Saturday was to mark the fifth anniversary of Beijing’s announcement of a political reform framework which stated that there must be screening for the Chief Executive elections in the city, but this was eventually rejected by the Legislative Council.

The move resulted in the 2014 Yellow Umbrella movement that lasted 79 days when key roads in the city centre were occupied.

Hours after Mr Sham was attacked, an organiser of a July anti-triad protest in Yuen Long was attacked by four men armed with metal rods and umbrellas while he was in Tai Po.

Mr Max Chung, who was struck on the arms, back and head, said he was giving an interview to a reporter on the banks of the Lam Tsuen River in Tai Po when he was attacked.

The reporter, from Truth Media Hong Kong, was also beaten up and suffered injuries.

The Yuen Long march that Mr Chung organised was in response to attacks on July 21 in which several dozen protesters and passers-by were injured in assaults by white-shirted mobs. There have been sporadic reports of similar attacks on protesters in the weeks since.

The developments come ahead of a planned two-day city-wide strike from Monday (Sept 2) – the second such call following one on Aug 5, when protests were held in multiple districts and later turned violent and chaotic.

Organiser of the strike said rallies would be held in Tsim Sha Tsui and Admiralty on Monday, while a rally will be held in Central the next day to let people express their opinions.

Monday is the start of a new school term for some universities and secondary schools and some students have said they would boycott classes that day.

In anticipation of next week’s strike, Hong Kong’s flagship carrier Cathay Pacific has warned employees not to take part in it, in a move meant to limit the damage from the city’s months-long protests and avoid running afoul of Beijing.

Those participating in the two-day strike risk getting fired, Mr Tom Owen, director of people at Cathay Pacific, told staff in an internal memo confirmed by the airline, Bloomberg reported.

In China, an editorial in the China Daily newspaper on Friday said Chinese soldiers stationed in Hong Kong are not there merely for symbolic purposes and they will have “no reason to sit on their hands” if the situation in the city worsens.

The warning comes after China on Thursday completed what it called a routine rotation of the air, land and maritime forces stationed in the former British colony.

The government said in a statement on Friday that Chief Executive Carrie Lam, on the recommendation of the Chief Justice, has appointed Justice Lisa Wong Kwok Ying for a term of three years from Sept 4 as a panel judge under the Interception of Communications and Surveillance Ordinance (Chapter 589).

Mrs Lam, on the recommendation of the Chief Justice, can appoint three to six eligible judges as panel judges to consider applications for authorisations of interception and surveillance and for device retrieval warrants.

The Ordinance provides a comprehensive statutory framework for regulating the conduct of interception and covert surveillance by law enforcement agencies, and aims to strike a balance between maintaining law and order and protecting the privacy rights of individuals.

The protests began five months ago in March when the Hong Kong government mooted a controversial Bill – now suspended – that would allow the authorities to extradite people to countries with which it has no formal extradition agreements, including mainland China.

The anti-extradition protests have since morphed into a broader movement seeking universal suffrage and an independent probe into police handling of the protests.

More than 800 people have been arrested since June 9.

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