Demosisto member Agnes Chow became the second pro-democracy activist to be rounded up by police this morning after her fellow party member Joshua Wong was arrested earlier this morning.
At a press conference today, Demosisto’s vice chair Isaac Cheng confirmed that Chow was arrested on suspicion of inciting and taking part in an illegal protest at police headquarters in late June. Wong was brought in on similar charges over the same protest, but was additionally accused of organizing the event.
Both are currently being held at Wan Chai police headquarters.
Cheng’s press conference comes hours the after party confirmed Chow’s arrest in a brief statement, saying she was picked up by police at her home and adding that it had “arranged [its] lawyers to follow the case.” Wong, they said, had been bundled into an unmarked car a couple hours earlier while on his way to the MTR station.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B1xdrxrD4Rr/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
The accusations against the pair stem from the June 21 siege of Hong Kong police headquarters. Though that protest was not violent, aside from some thrown eggs, protesters did surround the headquarters for more than 12 hours, blocking doors and covering security cameras. Wong was seen on the day in question at one point addressing the crowd via loudspeaker.
Cheng accused the authorities of targeting high-profile pro-democracy activists in an effort to make them out to be leaders of the city’s ongoing pro-democracy protests — which have been almost entirely organized at the grassroots level — and accused the government of trying to frighten Hongkongers into not protesting.
“Don’t use white terror to threaten Hong Kong people not to come out,” he said.
Cheng stressed that the protest movement — now it its third month — is leaderless, and urged the government to respond to the protesters’ five key demands, which include the full withdrawal of the controversial extradition bill that kicked off the protests, an independent inquiry into police violence against protesters, and broader political reforms.
Chow and Wong’s arrests come hot on the heels of the arrest of pro-independence activist Andy Chan, who was detained at the airport last night. Chan, whose Hong Kong National Party was controversially banned in 2018, was among eight people arrested early this month in a raid on warehouse said to contain weapons and materials for making petrol bombs.
