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Hong Kong protests: police national security unit to investigate student rally at Chinese University
- Chinese University of Hong Kong staff contact police after hearing chants deemed illegal under national security law
- More than 100 attend the demonstration on the Sha Tin campus, which police and officials warned may have been illegal
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The police national security unit will investigate a student protest at the Chinese University of Hong Kong on Thursday in which separatist slogans were chanted, prompting the management to call in law enforcement.
Condemning actions by the protesters, police said they would attach high importance to the case. The Education Bureau also weighed in, saying it supported the university’s decision to call police.
More than 100 people heeded online calls to protest at the university’s Sha Tin site against the management’s decision last week to move graduation ceremonies online, which they said deprived students of the opportunity to express their views. The ceremonies had become annual occasions for graduates to demonstrate their political stance.
The demonstrators on Thursday were heard calling for Hong Kong independence and liberation, using phrases stemming from last year’s anti-government protests which are now considered an offence under the Beijing-decreed national security legislation imposed on the city in June.
Many also expressed support for the 12 Hong Kong fugitives detained in Shenzhen after being caught in August by mainland China’s coastguard while fleeing to Taiwan in a speedboat.
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