{"id":6163,"date":"2021-01-07T15:40:02","date_gmt":"2021-01-07T15:40:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/humanrightsdefenders.blog\/?p=19070"},"modified":"2021-01-07T15:40:02","modified_gmt":"2021-01-07T15:40:02","slug":"crackdown-habit-now-extends-to-hong-kong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/01\/07\/crackdown-habit-now-extends-to-hong-kong\/","title":{"rendered":"Crackdown habit now extends to Hong Kong"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
For those who thought that the new National Security Law (NSL) in Hong Kong would not be used so harshly or quickly, the latest salvo against the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong is a rude wake up call: more than 50 people were arrested in the early hours of Wednesday 6 January 2021. Pro-democracy politicians and campaigners had their homes raided before being detained in an unprecedented crackdown. On 6 January 2021 Seth Farsides for the International Observatory for Human Rights described the scene:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In total, 53 individuals were detained on 6 January 2021 under provisions of the National Security Law (NSL), which was imposed on Hong Kong by the Chinese mainland in June 2020. The individuals stand accused of \u201csubverting state power\u201d, following a number of primaries being conducted for pro-democracy candidates ahead of the delayed Hong Kong election which had been due to take place in September 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Today\u2019s raids further demonstrate Carrie Lam\u2019s willingness to stifle opposition movements and deny the people of Hong Kong a free and fair election. More than 1,000 officers were involved in an operation that \u201clook[ed] more like a purge than law enforcement<\/em>\u201d according to Tom Cheshire, Asia correspondent for Sky news.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Among those arrested were several former lawmakers and district councillors, organiser of the primaries Benny Tai and American lawyer John Clancey and Robert Chung who provided the technology that carried out the poll through the Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute, of which he is the executive director.<\/p>\n\n\n\n