Hong Kong protesters have been receiving training from foreign forces, city’s security chief says, while also revealing more than 3,700 phones were seized and broken into
- John Lee said no evidence linked recent seizures of weapons and bombs to overseas terrorist organisations, but suggested some protesters were not acting alone
- Opposition legislators said making such claims without providing proof was irresponsible
Hong Kong’s security chief raised concerns on Wednesday that some anti-government protesters received training from “non-local” individuals to fuel the social unrest plaguing the city for seven months.
John Lee Ka-chiu became the first top official to go beyond speculation about the involvement of foreign forces to cite intelligence and the well-planned nature of the protests in making the allegation.
He said there was no evidence linking a recent, protest-related spate of weapon and bomb seizures by police to overseas terrorist organisations, but suggested some protesters were not acting on their own.
Lee also revealed police had seized 3,721 mobile phones from protesters in the first five months of unrest and had them broken into to read the contents.
Responding to a pro-establishment lawmaker’s question in the Legislative Council on Wednesday, the secretary for security said: “Based on the rioters’ acts, we definitely believe they received training.”