In Hong Kong, pro-democracy activists Joshua Wong and Agnes Chow arrested

Several figures of the Hong Kong prodemocracy movement were arrested Friday (August 30th), including Joshua Wong and Agnes Chow, after the police banned another major demonstration on Saturday.

"Our Secretary General @joshuawongcf has been arrested this morning around 7:30," tweeted the party Demosisto. "He was forced into an unmarked minivan on the street in broad daylight, and our lawyers are now following the case."

The official press in Beijing warned that Chinese soldiers stationed in Hong Kong could intervene if the situation worsened.

At 22, this figure of the Umbrella Movement that paralyzed the semi-autonomous city in 2014, had already been released from prison last June after five weeks of contempt detention.

"He was suddenly pushed inside a private vehicle on the street," the Demosisto party, which advocates democracy in the former British colony, was quoted on Twitter. "He was escorted to the police headquarters in Wan Chai," he added, adding that his lawyers had seized the case.

The party said another of its members, Agnes Chow, had been arrested too, without giving further details.

UPDATE SITUATION: Our member @chowtingagnes has also been arrested this morning. She is being sent to the Wan Chai police headquarters, where @joshuawongcf is currently detained.

On his Facebook page, Andy Chan, founder of the pro-independence National Party, which the authorities banned last September, said Thursday night he was detained at the Hong Kong airport prior to his arrest.

No comments could be obtained immediately from the police.

Since the escalation of the movement in mid-June, nearly 900 people have been arrested in repeated clashes between protesters and police.

Born in April of the rejection of a bill that would have allowed the extradition of suspects to Mainland China, the protest movement has broadened to broader demands, including the protection of freedoms and autonomy enjoyed by the former British colony since its surrender to China in 1997.

For many Hong Kongers, this particular system, summarized by the formula "one country, two systems", is today threatened by the growing influence exercised by the Chinese central government.

"No reason to sit idly by"

The protest, which also weighs on the economic activity of the territory, represents an unprecedented challenge for Chinese President Xi Jinping since taking office in 2012.

On Thursday, a "routine" rotation of People's Liberation Army (PLA) troops stationed in Hong Kong was carried out by China. The latter has warned that it would not hesitate to intervene to end the protest movement, but the local government, which depends on Beijing says it can handle the crisis itself.

Maria Tam, a Hong Kong-based parliamentarian close to the Chinese government, said she was informed by senior Chinese government officials that the Chinese government is continuing to support Hong Kong's chief executive, Carrie Lam. It also declared that neither a proclamation of the state of emergency by the local executive nor a request for intervention by the Chinese army were on the agenda, without excluding that it became necessary for the to come up.

According to the official Chinese press, the soldiers stationed in Hong Kong do not have a symbolic presence, and would have "no reason to sit idly by" if the situation worsened.

"The SAR government has not yet thought it necessary to call the garrison, but that does not mean it will not do it if the situation demands it," writes Friday the China Daily, official voice of Beijing in English language.

With Reuters