March 2, 2021 - Epoch Times
02:53
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| Time | Text |
|---|---|
| 47 Hong Kong dissidents were charged on February 28th with conspiracy to commit subversion in the largest single clampdown on the city's pro-democracy opposition under a Beijing-imposed national security law. | |
| Sam Chung, a young activist and a participant in an unofficial primary election last summer, He was dressed in a black mask and accompanied by his wife when he was charged after reporting to a local police station. | |
| Hong Kongers have a really tough time these days, he told reporters before entering the station. | |
| I hope everyone won't give up on Hong Kong. | |
| Fight on. | |
| Cheung was arrested in a dawn raid along with more than 50 other lawmakers and activists on January the 6th in the largest so-called national security operation since the law's passage last June. | |
| They were accused of organising and participating in an unofficial primary election last July, aimed at selecting the strongest candidates for a legislative council election. | |
| The Hong Kong police said in a statement they had charged 47 persons with the single count. | |
| They are to appear in court on March 1, the statement added. | |
| The pro-democracy lawmakers were detained at the time, questioned, and some had their mobile phones and computers confiscated before being released pending further investigations. | |
| My chance of bail won't be too great, Benny Tai wrote in an earlier social media post. | |
| He was also charged and accused by Chinese authorities of being a key tactician for the pro-democracy movement in the former British colony. | |
| Those also called in by Hong Kong police include a group of younger resistance camp pro-democracy activists, including Lester Shum, Sam Cheung, Ventus Lau and Fergus Leung. | |
| The pro-democracy camp denounced the arrests as political persecution for the informal peaceful poll that drew 600,000 votes in a city of 7.5 million. | |
| A rights advocacy group, Power for Democracy, that co-organized the primary elections said in a Facebook post it had disbanded. | |
| Hong Kong police say 99 individuals have been arrested for suspected violations of the security laws so far. | |
| Some of these have been denied bail, including media mogul and prominent Beijing critic Jimmy Lai, despite protracted legal appeals. | |
| The Chinese Communist Party's sweeping national security laws, seen by opponents as a threat to Hong Kong's freedoms and autonomy, punish acts of subversion, secession, collusion with foreign forces, and terrorism against China's one-party state, with possible life imprisonment. | |
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