On 18 April, police in Hong Kong arrested 15 of some of the city’s most high-profile pro-democracy activists in the biggest crackdown since mass protests began in June 2019. Among the arrested are media tycoon Jimmy Lai and Democratic Party founder Martin Lee as well as a number of prominent lawmakers. They are accused of organising, publicising or participating in unauthorised assemblies during last year’s mass protests and are due to appear in court next month.
Who was arrested?
Among the 15 arrested were media tycoon Jimmy Lai who runs the Apple Daily newspaper which is frequently critical of the Hong Kong and Chinese leadership. Mr Lai, who was estimated by Forbes in 2009 to be worth $660m (£512m), was also arrested in February this year on charges of illegal assembly and intimidation.
Democratic Party founder and barrister Martin Lee, 81, was another prominent figure to be detained.The 81-year-old, who is known as the father of Hong Kong democracy, said he was “very much relieved” by his arrest, according to AFP news agency.
“For so many years, so many months, so many good youngsters were arrested and charged, while I was not arrested. I feel sorry about it,” he added. “I feel proud to walk the road of democracy with these outstanding youths.”
Also among the detained were the barrister Margaret Ng, lawyer Albert Ho, labour rights activist Lee Cheuk-yan, former legislators Leung Kwok-hung and Au Nok-hin, and younger activists such as Figo Chan, the vice-convener of the Civil Human Rights Front, which organised several mass protests approved by police last year.
Why were they arrested?
The 15 were accused of joining three unapproved protests on 18 August, 1 October and 20 October last year, local media reported, and the arrests took place just hours after China’s top representative office in the semi-autonomous city declared it is not bound by Hong Kong’s constitutional restrictions that bar Chinese government from interfering in local affairs.
Earlier this week, China’s liaison office chief Luo Huining called for controversial national security laws to be urgently passed as accusations of overreach by Beijing into the city’s legislative council and judiciary escalate.
The former governor of Hong Kong, Lord Patten of Barnes, said: “It becomes ever more clear, week by week and day by day, that Beijing is determined to throttle Hong Kong. The world should make clear how this further undermines any residual trust that we still have in the Chinese communist dictatorship.”
From June 2019 up until the coronavirus outbreak, Hong Kong witnessed almost weekly demonstrations against a proposal to allow extraditions to the Chinese mainland. While the proposal was later abandoned, the protests morphed into demands for greater democracy and less control from Beijing, and anger against the government remains.
Covid-19 as a “golden opportunity”
Lee Cheuk Yan, a veteran politician and activist and among the 15 arrested, told the Guardian that Beijing and the Hong Kong government are using the pandemic as a “golden opportunity” to crack down on dissent and the growing pro-democracy movement
Saturday’s arrests, he said, were aimed at ensuring pro-Beijing candidates won a majority at September’s Legislative Council elections, and could push through “more stringent or draconian laws for the future”. He told the Guardian that candidates cannot run if they have been sentenced to a jail term of more than three months.
“Anyone who wants to run in the election, you better be careful. I think that’s the message,” he said.
Lee also said that, normally, people would be “pouring out onto the street to protest” these arrests but because of Covid-19, authorities know that people will stay at home so they take advantage of that.
“Hong Kong people are very alert to the concern of infection, so they [the authorities] are using the chance of the pandemic,” he said. “This is a golden opportunity for them.”
International condemnation
The Saturday arrests were the biggest crackdown on the pro-democracy movement and condemned by the UK, US and Australian governments and human rights groups.
“The United States condemns the arrest of pro-democracy advocates in Hong Kong,” US secretary of state Mike Pompeo said.
“Beijing and its representatives in Hong Kong continue to take actions inconsistent with commitments made under the Sino-British Joint Declaration that include transparency, the rule of law, and guarantees that Hong Kong will continue to ‘enjoy a high degree of autonomy’.”
William Barr, the US attorney-general, condemned “the latest assault on the rule of law and the liberty of the people of Hong Kong”, in a sweeping statement that reflects growing anger and mistrust within the administration towards Beijing.
In Britain, a Foreign Office representative said the government expected any arrests and court procedures to be “conducted in a fair and transparent manner”. The Foreign Office also said the right to peaceful protest was “fundamental to Hong Kong’s way of life” and authorities should avoid “actions that inflame tensions”.
“The authorities should focus on rebuilding trust through a process of meaningful political dialogue,” the Foreign Office said.
The International Bar Association said Hong Kong authorities should not encroach on human rights and the legal system must guard against any abuses of power while the world was preoccupied with the coronavirus pandemic.
“It is critical that authorities do not use their powers to encroach on fundamental human rights, and it is vital that legal systems continue to protect citizens from any abuse of power which may otherwise be unseen during the Covid-19 crisis in which the international community is submerged,” it said in a statement emailed to Reuters.
In September, IOHR spoke exclusively to a Hong Kong protester about their struggle for democracy.