sending food also threatens the security of Hong Kong

After the arrest and reward order, the escalation of the pro-Beijing government against the eight pro-democracy activists who fled abroad continues. The parents and brother of the young leader of the umbrella revolution were arrested at dawn with the same methods used in China against dissidents. In the sight are “the tea parties of the UK promoting condemnation and sanctions against China”.

Hong Kong () – This morning, the Hong Kong police detained for questioning the parents and brother of Nathan Law, a former member of the Legislative Council who expatriated to Great Britain after the approval of the National Security Law three years ago. years. Law – who is 29 years old and was one of the leaders of the 2014 umbrella revolution – is one of eight pro-democracy activists living abroad against whom an arrest warrant and a reward of 1 was issued last week. million Hong Kong dollars (almost 118,000 euros).

Hong Kong newspaper website sing tao reports that the police went to two apartments in Tung Chung around 6am today. Law’s parents and brother were questioned at the police station and later released. In August 2020, a month after leaving Hong Kong, Law issued a statement in which he claimed to have severed ties with his family. A precaution to protect them that is proving futile: today’s action is reminiscent of those taken against dissident families in mainland China.

This morning’s intimidation is just the latest step in the escalation of recent days against pro-democracy figures who have left Hong Kong and continue to draw attention to the ongoing crackdown from abroad. Last week, five people linked to Demosisto – the extinct political party founded in 2016 by Nathan Law along with other young activists Joshua Wong and Agnes Chow and which dissolved the day the National Security Law came into force – were arrested for ” collusion with foreign forces. Specifically targeted is the activity of the so-called “yellow economic ring,” which police say promoted pro-democracy Hong Kong businesses through an app and helped financially support Nathan Law.

Regina Ip, a strictly pro-Beijing lawmaker and former security secretary, said in a television interview on Sunday that even sending money or food from Hong Kong to the eight Democrats wanted abroad was tantamount to “supporting their illegal activities.” Some of the wanted people are very active in the UK,” Ip said, “they run tea parties in areas where many Hong Kongers live. On the surface they are Hong Kong-style tea parties, but in reality they are designed to brainwash and confuse politicians into condemning and punishing China.”

According to figures released in February, up to 144,500 people left Hong Kong for the UK in the first two years after the National Security Law came into force on July 1, 2020, since London launched an emigration program. for UK passport holders.

Just yesterday, the newly appointed Cardinal Stephen Chow, Bishop of Hong Kong, answered questions from reporters after announcing his appointment. Referring to the plea for clemency he made at Easter for the more than 6,000 people who ended up in prison in the repression of pro-democracy movements in 2019, he expressed his wish that there would be more space for “reconciliation and hope for young people, especially of those who have been in prison, so that they may have a future”.