{"id":121567,"date":"2021-09-20T11:37:04","date_gmt":"2021-09-20T11:37:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/?p=121567"},"modified":"2021-09-20T11:37:04","modified_gmt":"2021-09-20T11:37:04","slug":"hong-kong-police-arrest-three-members-of-student-prisoner-support-group","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/markets\/hong-kong-police-arrest-three-members-of-student-prisoner-support-group\/","title":{"rendered":"Hong Kong police arrest three members of student prisoner-support group"},"content":{"rendered":"
HONG KONG (Reuters) – Hong Kong police arrested on Monday three members of a pro-democracy student group, accusing them of a \u201cconspiracy to incite subversion\u201d including by helping deliver snacks to prisoners with the aim of recruiting followers.<\/p> Hong Kong police have arrested more than 100 people under a national security law that Beijing imposed on the former British colony in June last year that critics say erodes the freedoms promised when it returned to Chinese rule in 1997.<\/p>\n Beijing and the city\u2019s government say the law is necessary to safeguard Hong Kong\u2019s prosperity and guard against outside interference.<\/p>\n Police Senior Superintendent Steve Li told reporters police arrested two men and one woman, aged 18-20, saying they incited hatred of the government and had urged others not to obey the law and subvert state power. He did not identify them.<\/p>\n Li said a group known as Student Politicism had set up street booths to spread what he called hateful speech against the government, including urging people not to use a government app aimed at tracking the spread of the coronavirus.<\/p>\n Police raided the group\u2019s warehouse and seized large quantities of sweets, surgical masks, biscuits, lotion, and books – all items on a list of goods prisoners are allowed to receive from outside – as evidence.<\/p>\n But Li suggested democracy activists were using the items to win over followers in prison.<\/p>\n \u201cHelping prisoners is not a problem but it depends on the intention,\u201d Li said.<\/p>\n \u201cIf the intention is to help prisoners with the same beliefs and to recruit followers … to continue to violate national security, it is a problem for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n The group also used slogans declared illegal under the new national security law and told people to \u201cprepare for the next revolution\u201d, Li said.<\/p>\n The group said on its Facebook page two of its leaders, Wong Yat-chin and Chan Chi-sum, were among the three arrested. It did not identify the third person. It did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n Wall-fare, a prisoners\u2019 rights group that provided supplies for prisoners and connected them with pen-pals, disbanded last week after Hong Kong Security Chief Chris Tang had said inmates uses items including sweets to recruit followers inside prison and endanger national security.<\/p>\n The national security law punishes what China considers secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces with up to life in prison.<\/p>\n Many of the city\u2019s most prominent pro-democracy politicians and activists are in jail, either under the new legislation or after being convicted on other charges.<\/p>\n