Advertisement
Advertisement
Hong Kong handover 20th anniversary
Get more with myNEWS
A personalised news feed of stories that matter to you
Learn more
Avery Ng (right) was among those arrested at the bauhinia statue protest. Photo: Felix Wong

Two Hong Kong pro-democracy campaigners claim they were tailed from police station after arrest for statue protest

Avery Ng and a member of his political party confront alleged followers, and post filmed exchanges online

Two members of a radical pro-democracy party have claimed they were tailed by strangers after being released from police custody on Thursday morning.

The pair were among 26 protesters arrested on Wednesday night, less than a day before President Xi Jinping arrived in Hong Kong for his three-day visit to mark 20 years since the city was handed from British rule to Chinese.
They had protested at the symbolic bauhinia statue in Wan Chai – a gift from the central government to mark the handover.

Avery Ng Man-yuen, chairman of League of Social Democrats, a political party, said people in a seven-seater tailed him from North Point Police Station to his home in Mei Foo.

Activists protested outside North Point Police Station as the 26 were held. Photo: David Wong

He had been held for 28 hours after the protest.

All 26 arrested were released on bail around 5am on Friday, less than four hours before a court hearing on their applications for habeas corpus, which requires a judge to decide whether a person’s detention is lawful. The hearing was later cancelled.

A video Ng posted on his Facebook showed a silver seven-seater and later a black car parking separately in his neighbourhood. Ng said five people stood at different spots, watching him.

“They don’t look like Hong Kong police,” said Ng in the video, in which he said he thought the people could be agents.

Mainland officers are not allowed to enforce the law in Hong Kong.

When Ng approached the people he said were watching him, some appeared evasive and avoided Ng’s questions about what they were doing.

Two others whom Ng found suspicious shook hands with him when confronted, telling him that they support him.

The footage showed the two cars left after Ng talked to the men.

The League of Social Democrats posted another two videos on their official Facebook page, claiming party member Chan Ho-wun, who was arrested along with Ng, was tailed by unknown people after being released.

The first video, taken outside the Legislative Council building, showed a long-haired woman and a bald man, both in black, stood on the street.

A voice behind the camera said the two had been waiting outside North Point Police Station and the Legco building. Asked why they were following Chan, the pair did not reply directly.

The second video showed Chan being tailed by at least one man outside the party’s Cheung Sha Wan headquarters.

The man, dressed all in black and wearing a cap, grabbed Chan’s phone as he shot the video. He handed it back, as the pair had an argument.

Police officers were seen in both of Chan’s videos, settling the rows.

Post