Tony Chung, a 19-year-old activist, was arrested outside the U.S. Consulate in Hong Kong on Tuesday.
According to the U.K.-based group Friends of Hong Kong, Chung went to the consulate around 8:10 a.m. local time seeking asylum. While the group says it had previously petitioned the State Department on Chung’s behalf, he had been told on Monday to report to police on Tuesday. Fearing his bail for a previous charge would be revoked at that visit, he hoped the U.S. Consulate would be able to help.
Upon realizing the consulate would not open for another 20 minutes, he visited a nearby coffee shop. Friends of Hong Kong says he called from the shop, fearing that he was being followed.
“About four minutes later, we received reports from a passerby that Tony was snatched away from Pacific Coffee and led towards [a nearby government] building,” a spokesman for the group told the Guardian.
Late on Tuesday, Hong Kong police confirmed the arrests of Chung and two others, saying two men and one woman between the ages of 17 and 21 had been taken into custody.
Chung was arrested earlier this year on suspicion of participating in a group that sought the independence of Hong Kong, which would be in violation of a new national security law from China that punishes acts of secession, subversion, terrorism, and collusion with foreign forces, with penalties of up to life in prison. He was later released on bail.
Unconfirmed reports have since circulated that four other activists visited the consulate later on Tuesday seeking asylum but were turned away. The Washington Examiner inquired with the State Department about these reports but received no comment on the matter.
Asylum-seekers are typically unable to apply for asylum at an American consulate but instead must do so in the United States. Chung, who has already been charged under the law, has had his passport taken away and would therefore be unable to travel to the U.S. There are others, however, who have come to the U.S. and successfully gained asylum.
