Eight more political arrests in the past 48 hours in Hong Kong

 

Outside the Legislative Council Complex during the

Occupy phase of the Umbrella Movement

 

 

Both the Legislative Council Complex and Central Government 

Offices were much less easier to get near come May of this year :(

Two days ago, Hong Kong's pro-democracy camp celebrated seven anti-extradition bill protestors being cleared of charges of rioting during a protest in Wan Chai and Causeway Bay on August 31 of last year; with the judge ruling that the prosecution has failed to prove the offences beyond all reasonable doubt.  Less than 24 hours later, the Hong Kong police arrested the exact same number of pro-democracy politicians on charges relating to a chaotic Legislative Council committee meeting on May 8 that carry a penalty of a HK$10,000 fine and imprisonment for up to 12 months. 

 

The Democratic Party's Wu Chi-wai, Andrew Wan and Helena Wong, the Labour Party's Fernando Cheung and Steven Kwok, People Power's Ray Chan and independent activist Eddie Chu Hoi-dick generally represent the moderate sections of the pro-democracy camp.  If even this septet are being seen as enemies of the government, then it shows how extreme -- and intolerant -- the Hong Kong government has become.

 

At a media briefing yesterday, the police stated that they did not rule out more arrests.  And so it proved, with Ted Hui becoming the eighth pro-democrat politician arrested over the May 8th "LegCo mayhem" earlier today.  In a Hong Kong where "lawfare" has become pervasive and which has more and more clearly become a place where there are different sets of rules for pro-Beijingers vis a vis pro-democrats, it almost goes without saying that, as the RTHK article observed, "No members of the pro-Beijing camp have been arrested over the chaos."

 

Adding insult to injury was that among the eight arrestees are one (Ray Chan) who TV cameras clearly showed having his shirt collar grabbed and then being dragged several meters and to the ground by a pro-Beijing legislative councillor during the May 8th melee and another (Andrew Wan) who also ended up requiring medical treatment and being stretchered away by an ambulance crew!  It's also worth noting that a third member of this octet, Eddie Chu Hoi-dick, was the top vote getter of the 2016 Legislative Council elections -- with the 84,121 votes he received putting such as Carrie Lam's 777 and Leung Chun-ying's 689 truly in the shade and to shame.

 

Long time political observer, Stephen Vines, reports that: "A member of the pro-democracy camp believes that the spectacular show staged by the police and the Department of Justice (DoJ) is nothing but a warning to the current democratic lawmakers to immediately disengage in parliamentary protests so that LegCo can resume “normal” as it was before June of last year. This is because Beijing and the Hong Kong government urgently need to convince the international community that the city is “business as usual.”"

 

Weeks ago, when the pan-democrat camp was deciding whether to stay or leave Legislative Council in the wake of Carrie Lam's announcement back on July 31st that this year's elections would be postponed for (at least) a year, there were arguments made in favor of their remaining in the posts that they had been elected to four years ago (as well as against).  And while I had agreed with Stephen Vines then that "elected democrats have a responsibility to serve the people who elected them" and that "part of the defence of liberty involves the democracy camp clinging onto positions it already holds" as well as thought that it would be better for there to be some opposition legislators in the Legislative Council -- even if they were in the minority -- rather than none at all, recent events have got me thinking that maybe those who had made the case otherwise could have been right after all.

 

If nothing else, witnessing the likes of Junius Ho controlling important Legislative Council panels is really painful.  It also adds credence to the sense that "LegCo is now where the most odious rise to power while opposition voices are suppressed thru lawfare" (cf Jennifer Wang's Tweet at https://twitter.com/jenniferlywang/status/1322746650570321920)       

 

Looking for a silver lining in this cloud: All eight of the arrested individuals have been released on bail (unlike the likes of national security law arrestees Tong Ying-kit, Tony Chung and Tam Tak-chi).  And, at least for now, the Legislative Council's remaining pro-democrats have vowed that "we will not back down ... and we will continue to fight"; perhaps mindful that "As long as there is resistance, there is hope" and "It always seems impossible until it is done".