The United Kingdom and United States have condemned the arrests of 15 outspoken Hong Kong democracy activists that took place on Saturday, calling the move an “assault on the rule of law and liberty of the people of Hong Kong”.
The US’ Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Attorney General William Barr both issued statements on the matter, with Pompeo writing that “Beijing and its representatives […] continue to take actions inconsistent with commitments made under the Sino-British Joint Declaration”.
The UK’s Foreign Office said it was “concerned” about the arrests, and “following [the] cases closely”. Meanwhile, Hong Kong’s last colonial governor Chris Patten issued a statement accusing Beijing “and its subservient government” of using the attention on coronavirus as a cover to take “yet another step towards burying one country, two systems”.
Calling the arrested activists “some of the most distinguished leaders over decades of the campaign for democracy”, Patten described the mass arrests as something “authoritarian governments do”. “It becomes ever more clear, week by week and day by day, that Beijing is determined to throttle Hong Kong”, Patten wrote.
On Saturday, police rounded up 15 prominent pro-democracy figures including Democratic Party founders Martin Lee and Lee Cheuk-yan, ex-Democratic Party chairman Albert Ho, Labor Party vice-chairwoman Cyd Ho, and Apple Daily founder Jimmy Lai on Saturday and arrested them for organizing and taking part in protests against the extradition bill last August and October.
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