Hong Kong activists rally after arrests at handover statue protest hours before Chinese President Xi Jinping arrives
At least 26 arrested as police caught off guard by pro-democracy groups demanding universal suffrage
For the second time in three days, some 20 protesters from Demosisto, People Power and the League of Social Democrats climbed up and inside the Golden Bauhinia statue – a gift from Beijing to mark the handover – in Wan Chai.
At 8am on Thursday, the League of Social Democrats used its Facebook page to call for supporters to gather outside the North Point station at 10am.
It accused the police of delaying procedures as officers had yet to take statements from some of the league’s 13 arrested members at that time, about 10 hours after they were arrested.
Writing on Facebook at 8.49am, the league’s chairman Avery Ng Man-yuen, who was arrested, also said he was told that officers from the regional crime unit would only take statements from them at 10am.