Police in Hong Kong have started to put pressure on the pro-democracy protest group OccupyHK who have been protesting in Hong Kong since September 28th after the National People’s Congress which is China’s most powerful political committee announced that any candidate wishing to participate in Hong Kong’s first independent elections in 2017 will have to be pre screened and pre-approved by Beijing. The move by the committee has concerned the protesters because of the fear that the candidates who take part in the upcoming election will answer to Beijing and not to the residences of Hong Kong.
The crackdown against OccupyHK began on October 14th when the police started using tear gas and sledgehammers to break up the camps of Occupy and started to confront protesters and place them under arrest. “Absolute chaos reported in Tamar Park, protesters retreating as Hong Police advance, making arrest and firing pepper spray” a statement read on the official OccupyHK twitter account on the day of the crackdown.
Police have accused the protesters of disrupting public order and gathering illegally.
“I have to stress here that even though protesters raised their hands in the air it does not mean it was a peaceful protest” police spokesman Tsu Wai- Hung said in a statement regarding the crackdown on the protesters.
Along with cracking down on the protesters in the real world, Hong Kong Police have started to crackdown in the virtual world by tracking down people who have posted “inciteful” material online which according to police have led to disruptions in Hong Kong.
A statement by Hong Kong Police about a recent arrest of a 23 year old online activist read that the activist “incited others on an online forum to join the unlawful assembly in Mong Kok to charge police and paralyze the railways”. The arrest took place at the activist’s home on October 17th.
The arrest by police was prompted by a message that was posted on an online forum website known as the HKGolden website which is being used by OccupyHK. The message that was posted on the forum read “Tonight if you’re a man let’s revive Mong Kok” which was an attempt by a user named Li Siu- Ming to revive the protest in Hong Kong after the police crackdown and pressure.
“I have to stress inciting others to commit criminal acts on the internet” is illegal”, police spokesman Hui Chun- tak said regarding the arrest of the 23 year old activist. “I just got home after giving a statement he wrote (the online activist). So gloomy. Technology Crime Division. Be careful.”
According to reports, 45 people were injured by the assault by police on the camps in Tamar Park.
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