A former student leader was arrested in the small hours of Friday morning for alleged participation in an unlawful assembly outside the China Liaison Office two months ago. It came after ten earlier arrests related to the demonstration against an impending Basic Law interpretation by Beijing
Victor Wong Hon-leung, 23, was arrested at the airport’s e-channel border check when he returned from a trip to mainland China at 1:44 am, his university’s student paper said on social media. Wong’s residence in Tuen Mun was searched for evidence and he was taken to a police station.
Wong is a year 3 student at the Baptist University studying religion and philosophy. He was the vice-president of the Baptist University student union, a standing committee member of the Hong Kong Federation of Students in 2014 and participated in the pro-democracy Occupy protests, before being elected the Federation’s deputy secretary general in 2015.
According to the police, the Crime Hong Kong Island Region, working with the Organized Crime and Triad Bureau, arrested ten men aged between 17 and 29 on Wednesday. Possible charges are one or more of unlawful assembly, disorder in public places, possession of offensive weapons, obstructing police officers, or assaulting police officers.
On November 6 night, Demosisto, the League of Social Democrats, the Labour Party and Student Fight for Democracy organised a protest outside the China Liaison Office after a march opposing the impending Basic Law interpretation by Beijing.
Hundreds attended the protest surrounding the China Liaison Office in Sai Wan, filling nearby roads. Some threw water and water bottles at police, as the force used pepper spray to drive them back.
Student protester Sammy Ip, one of the ten arrested, said he only protested in a peaceful manner.
The homes of some of those arrested were searched, including Ip, the two pro-democracy Demosisto party members Derek Lam Shun-hin and Ivan Lam Long-yin, and League of Social Democrats member Dickson Chau Ka-faat.
All of the ten arrested previously have been released on bail.
