Hong Kong: pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong arrested for "illegal assembly"
Joshua Wong, one of the best-known faces of the pro-democracy mobilization in Hong Kong, was arrested Thursday for "—lawful assembly—" during a demonstration in October 2019. © REUTERS / Jorge Silva / File Photo
Text by: RFI Follow
4 min
Joshua Wong, one of the most famous faces of the pro-democracy mobilization in Hong Kong, was arrested on Thursday, September 24 for “illegal assembly” during a demonstration in October 2019 in the former British colony, a announced his lawyer.
Publicity
Read more
The 23-year-old activist said on Twitter that he was also accused of having, during this rally, violated "
the draconian law prohibiting the wearing of masks
" that the local government had taken to try to defuse the protest.
This text has since been deemed unconstitutional.
This arrest comes as the city has been the target of a strong takeover of China since the end of June, through a
very controversial law on national security
which was a response to the political crisis of 2019.
Wearing a mask is now mandatory in public places in Hong Kong to
fight against the coronavirus
.
But a year ago, it was the ban on masking the face that had helped to add fuel to the fire, when the former British colony had for four months been the scene of unprecedented protests since the handover in 1997. The local executive, which is aligned with Beijing, then intended to cut the rug under the feet of the demonstrators who marched with their faces hidden, and facilitate the work of the police.
The ban on wearing a mask
Joshua Wong's lawyer said he was arrested when he came to check in at a police station, as part of a judicial review decided in another case that has not yet been tried.
“
Wong is suspected of having participated in an illegal rally on October 5 last year, when hundreds of people marched to oppose the mask ban that the government decided on using the emergency rules of the colonial era,
”said Jonathan Man.
Local authorities invoked emergency measures dating from 1922, which they had not used since 1967, to ban the wearing of masks during demonstrations.
Thousands of people defied this ban on October 5, 2019 and marched in masks in the shopping district of Causeway Bay, on Hong Kong Island.
The announcement of the ban the day before had been the source of serious violence in the city between radicals and riot forces.
#BREAKING Joshua is arrested when reporting to Central Police Station at about 1pm today.
The arrest is related to participating in an unauthorized assembly on 5Oct last year.
He is told to have violated the draconian anti-mask law as well.
Joshua Wong 黃 之 鋒 😷 (@joshuawongcf) September 24, 2020
►
To read: A year later, the Hong Kongers are still demonstrating against "the seizure of Beijing"
(
With AFP
)
Newsletter
Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
google-play-badge_FR
Hong Kong
China
On the same subject
Hong Kong: pro-democracy activist arrested for "seditious remarks" before rally
Hong Kong protests in 2019: two opposition elected officials arrested