Four members of Hong Kong pro-independence group arrested by police officers from national security unit
- Images posted online showed Tony Chung, one of the former convenors of Studentlocalism, being taken away
- Move marks the first such police operation outside of arrests made at protests
The arrests of the suspects, aged 16 to 21, in Yuen Long, Sha Tin and Tuen Mun marked the first such crackdown on anti-government activists not at the scene of street protests.
Police did not reveal the suspects’ identities, but images posted online showed Tony Chung Hon-lam, one of the former convenors of Studentlocalism, being taken away in handcuffs in Yuen Long by officers.
Studentlocalism was a pro-independence group that was disbanded on June 30, hours before the Beijing-imposed national security law came into effect, banning acts of secession, subversion, terrorism, and collusion with a foreign country to endanger national security.
In a late night press conference, Senior Superintendent Steve Li Kwai-wah of the National Security Department under the police force said the suspects’ group had recently declared the establishment of a body to promote pro-independence political ideals “using any means possible” and build a “Republic of Hong Kong”.
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The Initiative Independence Party, the newly established group in question, also raised the arrest of Chung on its Facebook page.