Hong Kong: Hong Kong police on Wednesday arrested four youths suspected of inciting separatism through social media posts, indicating that they intended to strictly enforce China’s new national security law. A police officer told the press conference at night that all the youth arrested are between 16 and 21 years of age and three of them are young men and one young woman. It is believed that they are all students. “The investigation revealed recently that the group announced on social media that they had formed an organization for Hong Kong independence,” said Lee Kwai-wah, senior superintendent of the new unit set up to enforce the security law.
Activists and academics fear that their activities could also be targeted under this law, which was enacted a month ago in Hong Kong. The Central Government of China had enacted the National Security Act in semi-autonomous Hong Kong because the leaders here could not pass the bill at the local level. Along with this, there was a fear that the move would undermine Hong Kong’s independence and local autonomy. The police did not reveal the identity of the arrested people nor gave information about their organization. However, an organization called StudentLocalism said on Facebook that four of its former members have been arrested on charges of separatism. It also includes former leader Tony Chung. The organization said before the new law went into effect that they were dissolving the group.
