Hong Kong authorities arrested 53 people on Wednesday in an unprecedented crackdown over an unofficial election primary organised by pro-democracy parties last year. It was the largest mass arrest since the introduction of the national security law (NSL) in June. The group, accused of subversion and facing penalties of up to life in prison, included legislators and candidates, campaigners, pollsters, students and lawyers, ranging from young people to political veterans. The following are some of those reported to be arrested.
Benny Tai is a well-known activist and legal scholar, and co-organiser of the poll that drew 600,000 people out to vote. Tai had warned of a backlash at the time of the polls, saying “everyone must be mentally prepared”.
Tai was also an organiser of the 2014 “umbrella movement” protests, for which he served four of a 16-month prison sentence. In July he was fired from his job as a tenured law professor at the University of Hong Kong, which he said was forced on the university and showed Beijing’s determination to control intellectuals in Hong Kong. Tai continued to speak out even after the implementation of the NSL, telling Radio Free Asia in October the number of people in Hong Kong willing to stand up to an authoritarian government had “reached a critical mass”.
He is also the author of a widely shared op-ed published in April and cited by authorities as evidence of a plot to bring down the government.
The op-ed, Ten Steps to Laam Chau, referred to a scorched earth doctrine among radical protesters and largely predicted the authorities’ crackdown, albeit on a longer timeline. It stepped through a process that envisioned the democratic faction winning a majority in the legislative council, voting down government budgets and forcing the resignation of the chief executive, Carrie Lam, and prompting protests and a violent crackdown by authorities.
James To, 57, a lawyer and former legislator, is one of the most respected pro-democracy figures in Hong Kong. He was the youngest Democratic party member to be elected to the legislative council in the city’s first democratic elections in 1991 at the age of 28. He won nearly 50,000 votes in the primary elections.
As the most senior legislative council member, he resigned in November along with the rest of the pro-democracy camp in protest at the disqualification of four of their members. To, along with fellow lawmaker Eddie Chu and the activist Owen Chow, have been helping the 12 Hongkongers intercepted while trying to flee by boat to Taiwan last year. Chu and Chow were also arrested on Wednesday.
Lam Cheuk-ting, a former legislator and chief executive of the Democratic party, has already been arrested multiple times by Hong Kong authorities over his involvement in the 2019 protests, and in particular the Yuen Long MTR incident, when armed thugs attacked protesters and civilians. Lam was injured while livestreaming events at Yuen Long and taken to hospital with facial injuries requiring stitches. The 43-year-old is a former investigator for the independent commission against corruption, which he has said had become “a tool for political persecution”.
Claudia Mo, 63 is one of Hong Kong’s most outspoken democratic legislators, and founder of the Civic party. The former journalist was among those who resigned from the legislative council in November in protest at the disqualification of four colleagues under a Beijing-issued decree. She is a fierce advocate for the pro-democracy movement and protesters. In 2016, Mo predicted the events that have come to pass, writing for the Guardian: “The Chinese government has opened the door to disqualify anyone from Hong Kong’s government if they are determined to not be loyal to Beijing.”
Leung Kwok-hung, also known as “Long Hair”, is a veteran activist and politician who was in office from 2004 to 2016, and co-founder of the League of Social Democrats party. He was formally disqualified from parliament in 2017 over the oath-taking controversy, when several elected candidates made acts of protest while taking their oath of office. The 64-year-old is a frequent protester and has been arrested or jailed multiple times over his activism.
Winnie Yu, 33, a former intensive care nurse and the chair of the Hospital Authority Employees Alliance, also stood in the primaries last year. Her group organised the medical sector strike last year, urging the Hong Kong government to shut the city’s border with mainland China and provide adequate personal protective equipment for frontline medical workers in February when Covid-19 emerged. A novice in politics, she was widely attacked in China-backed media for being a “black hand” in inciting other medical workers to take part in the strike.
Eddie Chu Hoi-dick is also a former legislator, and has been arrested several times, including over chaotic scenes in parliament alongside Ted Hui and Ray Chan.
During one of the incidents in parliament, when a committee meeting descended into violence, Chu was physically removed from the room by four security guards, each holding one limb.
Some of the arrested were young activists whose involvement in the primaries were among their first forays into politics.
Gwyneth Ho, 29, a journalist formerly with the Stand News online media, was attacked by a group of rod-wielding men during the Yuen Long mob attack on 21 July last year while reporting. She stood in the primaries and won 26,802 votes.
Tiffany Yuen, 26, was an ally of the activist Joshua Wong. Between 2016-18 she was the vice-chair of the now disbanded Demosisto group, seen by the authorities as a symbol of pro-independence force. Elected in the 2019 district council elections in which the pro-democracy campaigners achieved a sweeping victory, she won 19,844 votes in the primaries.
Ventus Lau, 26, the spokesperson for the Civil Assembly Team, which organised several small-scale peaceful rallies during the anti-government movement in 2019, was also arrested on Wednesday. Lau has already been charged with rioting for barging into the legislative council chamber during a protest on 1 July 2019 and faces 10 years in prison for that charge alone. He won 26,707 votes in the primaries.
