Surprise surprise Beijing have now started rounding up all those pro-democracy and independent candidates who won local elections in Hong Kong last year. Local politician and activist “Long Hair” amongst them
RTHK reports
Several former pro-democracy lawmakers and dozens of other politicians and activists have been arrested for allegedly violating the national security law. According to party members and social media posts, it’s believed the arrests are linked to a primary vote held by pan-democrats last year for the Legislative Council elections.
The League of Social Democrats said former lawmaker Leung Kwok-Hung and one of its vice-chairs, Jimmy Sham, were detained.
Others rounded up include former lawmakers Gary Fan, Chu Hoi-dick and Au Nok-hin, the Civic Party’s Alvin Yeung, and from the Democratic Party – Wu Chi-wai, James To and Andrew Wan.
The pan-democrats held the poll in July to choose candidates for September’s Legco elections, which the government then posponed.
At the time, Chief Executive Carrie Lam warned the primaries could amount to an act of subversion.
The Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau also said in a statement last July that the government had received complaints that the primaries “may have allegedly interfered with and manipulated” the elections and jeopardised the integrity of the electoral process.
Beijing was apparently concerned that the poll, in part organised by former University of Hong Kong law professor and Occupy central organiser Benny Tai, might amount to a type of colour revolution, a term if often used to describe unrest in the Ukraine and during the Arab Spring.
Source: https://news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/component/k2/1568852-20210106.htm
Also see https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/12/8/crackdown-in-hong-kong-continues-eight-more-arrested
