Hong Kong police arrested multiple pro-democracy leaders on accusations that they were a part of an unlawful assembly.
Joshua Wong and Agnes Chow were arrested Friday on charges of inciting and taking part in an illegal assembly, according to Politico. Wong was also charged with organizing the assembly. Both activists took part in a June 21 protest at police headquarters in Wan Chai in opposition to a planned extradition bill.
The arrests come a day before planned weekend rallies that have been banned by police.
“We (are) strongly aware of how President Xi Jinping and the Beijing government are the ones who back and endorse the Hong Kong police to conduct such a mass arrest and prosecution,” Wong said in a statement.
Wong tweeted out Friday that the protesters “shall never surrender.”
2. Compared with the hardships of our companions, some of them may got beaten up by the police, may got sexually assaulted, may got shot in eye, everything I’m facing is really insignificant.
Hongkonger, together we stand! We shall never surrender!
— Joshua Wong 黃之鋒 (@joshuawongcf) August 30, 2019
Chow said the arrests were clearly an attempt by China to intimidate protesters from organizing.
“But, we, Hong Kong people won’t give up and won’t be scared of this white terror and injustice,” Chow said. “We will keep on fighting for democracy and five demands of Hong Kong people, including a complete retraction of the extradition law and independent investigation over police violence and also the most important thing is the universal suffrage and a democratic political system in Hong Kong.”
Hong Kong police arrested a total of seven activists and protest leaders in what has been described as a “targeted round-up.”
This weekend marks the 13th weekend of protests, which began in March over a planned extradition bill that would have allowed the Chinese government to arrest and take people from Hong Kong back to China. Hong Kong citizens feared it was a significant step in the potential fall of the region’s autonomy to the Chinese regime.
Officials in the United States are reportedly considering travel bans and targeted asset freezes on Chinese leaders if China does not deescalate tensions with Hong Kong.
