HONG KONG (UCAN): Hong Kong’s Civil Human Rights Front (CHRF), reiterated its determination to work for democracy after police arrested pro-democracy advocates Lee Cheuk-yan, Yeung Sum, media tycoon Jimmy Lai on charges of participating in illegal gatherings on February 28. All three were released on bail later in the day.
“Since June, the police have indiscriminately arrested more than 7,000 people and repeatedly violated people’s right to freedom of procession and assembly,” the CHRF said in a statement.
The group, which includes the Justice and Peace Commission of the Diocese of Hong Kong, expressed anger “at the police’s indiscriminate arrests and strongly condemned it.”
Lai, the 71-year-old millionaire, is believed to be a significant funder of the pro-democracy protests that began in June 2019. The 63-year-old Lee is the vice-chairperson of the Labour Party, while 72-year-old Yeung Sum is a former chairperson of the Democracy Party. Both have actively participated in the protests.
The protests lessened following the November 2019 District Council elections, then subsided as the Covid-19 coronavirus epidemic spread to Hong Kong from China.
The protests began in opposition to an extradition bill that would have allowed the establishment of a mechanism for transfers of fugitives to jurisdictions with which Hong Kong has no extradition arrangement—including China. It was suspended in June last year, but only officially withdrawn in September. However, protests continued demanding wider democratic reforms and an investigation into alleged police brutality.
“Police continue to indiscriminately arrest” people, the CHRF said.
People are dissatisfied with suppression of the legitimate right to march and hold peaceful rallies, it said.
The CHRF said the arrests revealed the police’s determination to crush people’s freedom to protest against police brutality and their scant regard for the fundamental political rights of people.
“The police are more than violent … the epidemic prevention funds are used to suppress public opinion, the taxpayers’ money is used to buy bullets to hit citizens,” it said, alluding to the presentation of the city’s budget on February 26.
The police move will only make Hong Kong people “more united, persistent and courageous,” the CHRF said, asking people not to forget all arrested persons and their counterparts in prison and to insist on true universal suffrage.
Amnesty International issued a statement on February 28 calling the arrests unjustifiable and “a shameless attempt to harass and silence those in Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement. It continues the pattern of the authorities using politically motivated charges to suppress opposition voices.”
The statement noted, “The vast majority of people taking part in the 31 August protests were exercising their right to peaceful assembly. Peaceful protests do not require authorisation and are therefore not ‘unlawful’, as the Hong Kong authorities claim.”
It said, “This continued assault on freedom of expression and assembly in Hong Kong only underlines the urgent need for an independent inquiry into the heavy-handed tactics used by police against protesters since last year.”
