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A day after Hong Kong picked a new Beijing-backed leader, police launched a fresh round of arrests of student leaders and other prominent figures involved with the huge 2014 Umbrella Movement pro-democracy protests.
Key points:
- Nine activists targeted by police
- Those targeted include university professors, current and former MPs
- Carrie Lam was elected Hong Kong's new chief executive on Sunday
Nine activists targeted by police were defiant as they turned themselves in at police headquarters on Monday evening, accompanied by dozens of supporters.
Police notified them earlier in the day that they would be arrested and charged with committing a public nuisance, according to the Demosisto political party.
Joshua Wong, the young activist who helped lead the 2014 protests and co-founded the pro-democracy Demosisto party, told the ABC's The World program Hong Kong's new leader Carrie Lam would continue the hard-line approach of current leader CY Leung.
"The target of the Beijing Government is to wipe out all democratic force in Hong Kong, from the prosecution of Umbrella Movement leaders to unseating democratic lawmakers," Mr Wong said.
"How come after the day of election the police force would immediately implement the prosecution? I think it's just the plan of CY Leung and also Carrie Lam."
Hong Kong police, who have arrested more than 200 people for involvement in the protests, did not reply to inquiries.
The Department of Justice said police would prosecute nine people based on its legal advice.
The arrests, which come more than two years after the end of the massive protests, could reignite political tensions in Hong Kong as the city prepares for its leadership transfer.
Lam promises to mend divisions
Beijing loyalist Ms Lam promised to mend political divisions after she was named Hong Kong's next leader on Sunday, but the arrests have fuelled fears of a wider crackdown on pro-democracy supporters amid rising concerns about mainland China's tightening grip on the semiautonomous city.
"We expect a large-scale political prosecution," Mr Wong tweeted.
Mr Wong has already been taken to court several times for his part in the protests, but is not among those being targeted this time.
Those targeted for arrest include two university professors, Benny Tai and Chan Kin-man, and the Reverend Chu Yiu-ming.
They founded a civil disobedience campaign that helped spark the 79-day protests demanding free elections for Hong Kong's leader.
Photo:
Carrie Lam (C) was elected on Sunday as Hong Kong's first female leader. (Reuters: Bobby Yip)
"Today, we are going to be arrested, and we will be charged. We will face very lengthy legal action," Mr Tai said before entering the police station.
"No matter what the results will be, we won't give up. We will never give up."
Others who surrendered to police include former student leaders Eason Chung and Tommy Cheung; a political activist; and three current and former pro-democracy politicians.
One of the politicians, Tanya Chan, said that "after all these years, first of all the timing, it's very strange. It seems to be a well-designed plan of CY," referring to Hong Kong's current leader, Leung Chun-ying, who is highly unpopular because of his hard-line stance against the protesters.
He will be replaced in July by Ms Lam, who will take over a city split by political divisions and fears that Beijing is undermining the "one country, two systems" framework that promises Hong Kong high autonomy from the mainland.
The arrests appear to have been timed to protect Ms Lam, who was Beijing's preferred candidate, from facing tough questions about the Government's crackdown during her leadership campaign, Amnesty International Hong Kong director Mabel Au said.
"The authorities have had plenty of time to make this decision, so it does raise questions," she said.
Ms Lam pledged "to heal the divide and to ease the frustrations and to unite our society to move forward".
But Ms Chan said the arrests would make that more difficult.
AP/ABC
Topics: elections, government-and-politics, activism-and-lobbying, unrest-conflict-and-war, world-politics, hong-kong, china, asia