National security law: 4 University of Hong Kong students arrested over motion mourning police assailant expected to be charged with advocating terrorism
- Suspects will be brought before West Kowloon Court on Thursday, force insider says
- Those arrested were among a group of 30 student union council members who voted in favour of a motion ‘appreciating the sacrifice’ of man who stabbed officer
The four suspects, aged 18 to 20, were among more than 30 members of HKU’s student union who attended a meeting last month during which a controversial motion was passed mourning and “appreciating the sacrifice” of the assailant whose crime was described by authorities as a “lone wolf-style act of domestic terrorism”.
A force insider identified the four as student union president Charles Kwok Wing-ho, 20, student union council chairman Kinson Cheung King-sang, 19, arts students representative Anthony Yung Chung-hei, 19, and 18-year-old students’ residential hall representative Chris Todorovski Shing-hang.
The suspects would be brought before West Kowloon Court on Thursday, the source said.
The student union passed its resolution on July 7 expressing “deep sadness” over the death of the man who stabbed the officer on a busy Causeway Bay street – on the July 1 anniversary of Hong Kong’s handover from British to Chinese sovereignty – before turning the knife on himself.
Based on CCTV footage and video seized during a raid of the student union offices, police concluded the four had spoken during the meeting, with some praising the assailant’s behaviour and describing him as “a martyr” and “courageous”, according to Senior Superintendent Steve Li Kwai-wah of the force’s National Security Department.