Demosisto Chairman Ivan Lam this morning became the latest Hong Kong pro-democracy activist to be arrested, just days after police rounded up at least eight of his peers, including two fellow party members, over a 36-hour period last week.
The party confirmed Lam’s arrest in a brief statement on social media, saying he was “taken away by officers of Customs Department when he arrived at Hong Kong International Airport this morning at around 10:00.”
According to the statement, Lam stands accused of participating in, and inciting others to join an unauthorized assembly, and the party’s lawyers are “following up now.”
RTHK reports that the prominent pro-democracy figure had been arrested in relation to an unauthorized protest at police headquarters on June 21.
Though peaceful, aside from some thrown eggs, the protest saw demonstrators surround the station for more than 12 hours, blocking exits and interrupting services.
Lam’s fellow Demosisto members Joshua Wong and Agnes Chow were also arrested on Friday on charges relating to the same demonstration. Both were later released on bail.
Several other pro-democracy figures, including lawmakers and a local councillor, were all arrested on the same day for purported crimes relating to the city’s ongoing protest movement, which began as a response to a deeply unpopular extradition bill, but expanded into a call for broader democratic reforms.
Meanwhile, Michael Mo, one of the initial organizers of a march in Yuen Long on July 27, was also arrested this morning, RTHK reports. The march was ultimately banned by police, but tens of thousands turned out anyway to protest the brutal attack on pro-democracy protesters by triad-linked thugs at the Yuen Long MTR station the previous weekend.
Mo was reportedly taken in on suspicion of helping to organize an unauthorized public gathering.
