Six pro-democracy activists were arrested yesterday for taking part in an unlawful assembly inside the compound of the central government's liaison office on Christmas Day.
One of them, Richard Tsoi Yiu-cheong, vice-chairman of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China, described the arrests as 'political prosecution'. He said the scale of the action against core members of the alliance was unprecedented.
Five of those arrested - Tsoi, lawmaker Lee Cheuk-yan, former legislator 'Long Hair' Leung Kwok-hung, Leung Kwok-wah and Li Yiu-kee - are members of the alliance's standing committee. Koo Sze-yiu, of the April 5th Action Group, was also arrested.
Four were picked up at their homes yesterday morning, while Lee and Koo were arrested when they went to police headquarters in Wan Chai in the afternoon. They were charged with unlawful assembly inside the compound of the liaison office in Sheung Wan. They will appear in Eastern Court next Thursday.
The Civil Human Rights Front accused the police of 'white terror' by arresting protesters in their homes.
During the protest against the 11-year imprisonment of mainland dissident Liu Xiaobo , about 20 protesters stormed into the compound of the office when the gate opened to let out a vehicle.
There was a scuffle with police and security guards inside the compound. A policeman, a security guard at the liaison office and two protesters needed hospital treatment.