HK police arrest fifth suspect in clampdown on prominent pro-democracy activists
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Political activist Ivan Lam is arrested by police in Hong Kong for supposedly helping fellow activists abroad.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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HONG KONG – Police in Hong Kong arrested a man on Thursday suspected of links to pro-democracy activists based abroad, picking him up at the city’s international airport a day after arresting four others for various national security offences.
Police issued arrest warrants days earlier for eight prominent overseas-based activists,
Citing unnamed sources, media in Hong Kong connected the four men arrested on Wednesday to an online platform known as Punish Mee that was allegedly used to provide financial aid to the eight wanted activists overseas.
“Police do not rule out the possibility that more arrests will be made,” the police said in a statement on Thursday that withheld the name of the latest man arrested, but gave his age as 24.
One source with direct knowledge of the matter identified him as Mr Calvin Chu Yan-ho, a former member of Demosisto.
The pro-democracy group was disbanded in 2020, hours after China imposed a national security law in Hong Kong. Its former leader, Mr Joshua Wong, was arrested in January 2021 and charged with conspiracy to commit subversion for participating in an unofficial primary election organised by democracy supporters.
Mr Ivan Lam, a former Demosisto chairman, was reportedly among the four men arrested on Wednesday.
China’s enactment of a sweeping national security law in 2020 has been criticised as a tool of repression by governments, including the United States. The Chinese authorities, however, say it has restored stability in the city after protracted pro-democracy protests in 2019. REUTERS
