Powerful people ‘threatened’ radical Hong Kong localist and his family after Mong Kok riots arrest
Ray Wong Toi-yeung says his relatives have been hit with threats that he could disappear like bookseller Lee Po
A key figure of localist group Hong Kong Indigenous claims his family has received threats from “powerful people” to make him disappear like Lee Po, the bookseller allegedly spirited to the mainland late last year.
Speaking of his experiences since his February 21 arrest over his alleged role in the Mong Kok riot, Ray Wong Toi-yeung said his relatives were contacted by different people through various channels, including by phone and middlemen, in the days after the event.
Wong refused to identify the callers but claimed they were not from Hong Kong, did not speak Cantonese and wanted to meet him directly.
“These were people with powerful backgrounds. I think everyone can guess who these people are,” he said.
“Some of these people succeeded in reaching my family members and in the course of their conversations, there was coercion and cajoling.
“They said they’d be able to find me and when they do, they would catch me. They also referred to the case of Mr Lee Po.”
Asked why he did not report it to the police, Wong said police “did not have enough power” to investigate such people.
Lee, a seller of politically sensitive books, was last seen on December 30. He was later revealed to be in Shenzhen but there was no record of him leaving Hong Kong. Many speculated that Lee was abducted by mainland law enforcement agents in Hong Kong and taken across the border. Lee denied this in a mainland television interview this week.
Hong Kong Indigenous’ Edward Leung Tin-kei – who came third with more than 15 per cent of the votes in Sunday’s New Territories East by-election – said he was not worried about competition from other localist groups in September’s Legislative Council elections.
The pair would not say if the group would field more than one candidate but Wong stressed he would not be running. Leung hinted at possible coordination with other localist groups in the run-up to the race, but said he was exhausted from the by-election campaign and it was too early to plan his next move.
The priority, he said, was legal assistance for activists arrested over the Mong Kok riot by establishing a fund – now “more than HK$1 million” in size – and finishing his university degree.
Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying congratulated by-election winner Alvin Yeung Ngok-kiu of the Civic Party yesterday but stopped short of commenting on the rise of localism.
“We know there are grievances in society,” he said. “The government is willing to listen to the views of the public to resolve the problems society is facing.”
