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After the crackdown, Hong Kongers fear the future
When news of the first arrests began trickling through, Joey Siu got straight onto the phone to her friends in Hong Kong. As they stopped responding, one by one, she realised the crackdown was growing - and fast.
The 21-year-old student activist, who fled to the US two months ago, watched the detentions mount on her screen: a social worker, an academic, a former journalist, an American lawyer. I panicked, said Ms Siu, as the scale of the operation became apparent, partly because of the fact that I can t go back and help.
Jan 7, 2021
China’s unprecedented arrest of dozens of leading Hong Kong opposition figures illustrates the depth of Joe Biden’s challenges with Beijing. By the time he becomes U.S. president, there might not be much democracy left to save in the Asian financial hub.
The Hong Kong police on Wednesday rounded up more than 50 activists, former lawmakers and academics, as well as an American rights lawyer, in a series of morning raids across the former British colony involving more than 1,000 officers. All had helped organize an unofficial primary in July to nominate opposition candidates for a legislative election that was later postponed.
Hong Kong arrests showcase shrinking tolerance for peaceful opposition
Mass arrests raise question of what, if anything, dissenting politicians are actually allowed to do
By Brianna Holt / The Guardian
Wednesday’s sweeping arrests of more than 50 pro-democracy activists, pollsters, politicians and fundraisers in Hong Kong seemed to all but criminalize opposition politics in the city.
Those arrested face charges of subversion for their role in unofficial primary elections held last summer that aimed to maximize the pro-democracy bloc’s performance in elections to the city’s legislative council.
“The plan of any opposition party is to win an election, [or] to be in a position for the government to negotiate with you; that is the virtue of democracy. So why it should be seen as a plot, as subversive? That’s beyond my comprehension, but that is the reality in Hong Kong,” said Prof Jean-Pierre Cabestan, professor at Hong Kong Baptist University. “Clearly we are movi
BBC News
By Preeti Jha
image copyrightEPA, Reuters, Instagram
image captionA social worker, an ex-journalist, an academic and an American lawyer (clockwise from top left) were among the arrested
When news of the first arrests began trickling through, Joey Siu got straight onto the phone to her friends in Hong Kong. As they stopped responding, one by one, she realised the crackdown was growing - and fast.
The 21-year-old student activist, who fled to the US two months ago, watched the detentions mount on her screen: a social worker, an academic, a former journalist, an American lawyer. I panicked, said Ms Siu, as the scale of the operation became apparent, partly because of the fact that I can t go back and help.
Hong Kong Arrests U.S. Citizen, Dozens More Under Security Law Bloomberg 1/6/2021 Iain Marlow, Natalie Lung and Alfred Liu
(Bloomberg) Hong Kong arrested dozens of opposition figures under a controversial national security law, an unprecedented crackdown that included an American lawyer, as authorities work to quash any dissent that remains in the former British colony.
Police said they had swept up 53 people in the Wednesday operation and that around 1,000 officers had been dispatched to carry out the detentions. Those arrested included several prominent former lawmakers, with allegations centered on an informal July primary to choose candidates for legislative elections subsequently postponed by the government.