Occupy leaders arrested and charged a day after Carrie Lam wins Hong Kong chief executive election

Authorities ordered the three Occupy founders, along with six lawmakers and activists, to report to Wan Chai police headquarters

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The Occupy protests in Hong Kong lasted 79 days in 2014. Photo: Dickson Lee

Published: 11:30am, 27 Mar 2017Updated: 5:09pm, 30 Mar 2017

Nine leaders and key participants of Hong Kong’s Occupy movement were arrested and charged on Monday night over their roles in the 2014 pro-democracy street protests – a day after Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor pledged to unite a divided society as the city’s newly elected chief executive.

In a move considered long overdue by critics of the protests, authorities ordered the three Occupy Central founders, along with six lawmakers and activists, to report to the Wan Chai police headquarters.

Occupy Central co-founders Dr Chan Kin-man (left), Benny Tai Yiu-ting, and Reverend Chu Yiu-ming. Photo: Sam Tsang

The three leaders of the protests, Reverend Chu Yiu-ming and academics Benny Tai Yiu-ting and Chan Kin-man, face three counts each – conspiracy to commit public nuisance, inciting others to commit public nuisance, and inciting people to incite others to commit public nuisance. Each charge carries a maximum penalty of seven years in jail.

The trio will be prosecuted over offences allegedly committed between March 27, 2013 – when they first published in newspapers their Occupy manifesto – and December 2014, when they turned themselves in to police.

Chan Kin-man, pictured in 2014, said police called him on Monday morning. Photo: AFP

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