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The

Three Kings Day

2021 in

Hong Kong

will be remembered for one of the biggest blows unprecedented democratic opposition to

Beijing

: 53 political ex legislators parliament and activists ,

have been arrested in a raid in the former British colony this Wednesday the morning.

New year, old customs in

China

.

Although it is the first time such mass arrests of opposition politicians have been given since Hong Kong returned to Chinese rule in 1997, when

Communist Party

leaders

promised certain civil liberties and democratic elections, for at least 50 years.

All have been arrested under the national security law passed last June.

They are accused of "subverting the power of the state."

As reported by the local media, this "subversion" consisted of the holding in July of unofficial primaries of the opposition parties, in which 600,000 people voted, to stand in elections -in September- that were never held. celebrate because the head of the Hong Kong Government,

Carrie Lam

, postponed them for a year due to the third wave of coronavirus that hit the city.

"With the support of external forces, opposition groups and leaders have deliberately devised plans to hold these so-called primary elections, which constitute a serious provocation to the current electoral system and caused serious damage to the fairness and justice of the Legislative Council. Elections" said then a statement from the

Beijing Liaison Office

in the city.

"The department of national security arrested several political figures opposed to the Government for participating in an opposition political project known as 35-plus. They are suspected of subversion under the national security law," reads the brief note shared by the media today state.

Under the law, secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces are criminalized with up to life imprisonment as the maximum penalty.

China's

suffocation

with its new law, under which 35 people have already been arrested, had its first political consequence in November, when pro-democracy deputies left their bench in the Legislative Council (Legco).

It was the first time since Hong Kong was returned to China that the chamber was left without critical voices.

The reason was a new resolution approved by Beijing that gives the Hong Kong government the power to directly dismiss, without going to court, the deputies that it considers a threat to national security.

First American arrested

Some of those lawmakers who resigned are among those arrested this morning.

As Hong Kong journalist

Viola Zou

explains

in an article in

Vice

, the list of detainees is a who's who in Hong Kong politics.

"Includes Alvin Yeung, former

Civic Party

leader

;

Gwyneth Ho

, journalist-turned-activist;

Roy Kwong

, novelist and former

Democratic Party

lawmaker

;

Lester Shum

,

2014 Umbrella Movement

student leader

; Leung Kwok-hung, a veteran activist a pro-democracy nicknamed

Long Hair

, and

Jimmy Sham

, coordinator of

the Civil Human Rights Front

and organizer of the largest protests in the history of Hong Kong, "explains Viola.

The organizer of the primary elections,

Benny Tai

, was also arrested, as was

Robert Chung

, director of the company (Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute) that provided the digital platform for voting.

Among those arrested was also the American

John Clancey

, a lawyer for

Ho Tse Wai and Partners

, a law firm specializing in human rights issues.

He has been detained on charges of "subversion," reported a source close to the case.

It was confirmed by a police source who requested anonymity.

He is the first American to be arrested under national security law.

"How can people who participate in a primary election to select candidates be subversive and violate national security law? This is a blatant attempt to intimidate pro-democracy activists and warn people not to participate in the politics and collaboration, "former legislator Emily Lau wrote on Twitter.

"Once again, Beijing has failed to learn from its mistakes in Hong Kong: that the repression breeds resistance and that millions of Hong Kong people will persist in their fight for their right to vote and run for public office in a democratically elected government." , defended

Maya Wang

, spokesperson in China for

Human Rights Watch (HRW)

.

Harsh repression against critical voices

The new year has started as it ended: with a harsh crackdown on critical voices in Hong Kong.

A couple of days before

New Year's Eve

, an activist named

Tony Chung

(19 years old) was sentenced to four months in prison for "contempt of the Chinese flag and illegal assembly."

On the 30th, 10 of the 12 activists who tried to flee to Taiwan by boat in the summer were convicted.

The two organizers of the escape,

Tang Kai-yin

and

Quinn Moon

, will spend three and two years in jail respectively.

The remaining eight were sentenced to seven months.

If we go back to the beginning of December, Joshua Wong (24 years old), the most visible face of the protests that shook the city throughout 2019, was sentenced to 13 and a half months in prison for attending and organizing an "unauthorized assembly" in front of to the Hong Kong Police Headquarters.

Two other popular Hong Kong activists were also tried for the same crime: 10 months for

Agnes Chow

(23 years old) and seven

months

for

Ivan Lam

(26).

Less than 24 hours after these convictions, it would be the media mogul

Jimmy Lai

(73 years old), owner of the

Apple Daily

, the largest pro-democracy daily in Hong Kong, who would enter prison accused of "fraud", of "collusion with foreign forces" and "subsidizing activist groups" who participated in the 2019 protests in the city.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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