Hong Kong:
Over 50 pro-democratic activists in Hong Kong had been arrested on Wednesday for breaking the city’s contentious national safety law, nearby media reported, in the most significant crackdown however against the democratic opposition below the new law.
The arrests in the Asian monetary hub integrated effectively identified democratic figures and former lawmakers James To, Lam Cheuk Ting and Lester Shum, according to the Democratic Party’s Facebook web page and public broadcaster RTHK.
Police did not instantly respond to requests for comment.
The Democratic Party’s Facebook web page stated police arrested the activists for participating in an independently organised ballot final year to choose democractic candidates for an upcoming legislature election, which the Hong Kong government and Beijing warned at the time could violate the new law.
The try to win a majority in the 70-seat city legislature, which some candidates stated could be used to block government proposals and raise stress for democratic reforms, was observed as an “act of subversion, in violation of the national security law”, the party stated.
The complete election for the legislative council has due to the fact been postponed, with the government citing the coronavirus.
The safety law was imposed by Beijing on the former British colony in June.
It punishes what China broadly defines as secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces with up to life in jail and has been condemned by the West and human rights groups as a tool to crush dissent in the semi-autonomous, Chinese-ruled city.
Authorities in Hong Kong and Beijing say it is crucial to plug gaping holes in national safety defences exposed by months of from time to time violent anti-government and anti-China protests that rocked the worldwide monetary hub in 2019.