Eight Hong Kong legislators have been arrested a day after eight people were held over a protest on a university campus last month.
According to Al Jazeera report, while the Hong Kong police have only said that the arrested people were of age between 24 and 64, local media has said that former pro-democracy legislators and veteran activist Leung Kwok-hung, known as Long Hair, was among them.
Meanwhile, a Twitter post of former legislator Eddie Chu said he too had been arrested.
"Chu Hoi Dick was arrested and searched by the police at 0640am this morning," the post read.
"He was charged with two crimes related to July 1st: holding or orgzing an unauthorized assembly, and knowingly participating in an unauthorized assembly," the post added.
The Hong Kong police on Tuesday had arrested eight people including two district councillors in connection with a peaceful pro-democracy demonstration last month on the Chinese University campus, Hong Kong Free Press reported citing local media.
Among those arrested was graduate and community orgser Arthur Yeung. Yeung was taken into custody by police at 7 am (local time), according to a post on his Facebook page.
The new arrests have come days after media mogul Jimmy Lai, the founder of the Apple Daily newspaper, on Thursday was reported to have been charged with fraud and then denied bail.In August too, the tycoon was arrested under the controversial new national security law.
Pro-Beijing administration in recent times has launched a crackdown against pro-democracy activists and politicians, and have several arrests since the passing of security law, which is deemed as draconian by people of Hong Kong and countries like the United States.
Around 100 students held a protest march during their graduation day on November 19 after their ceremony was cancelled owing to COVID-19 social distancing rules.
They displayed flags that read "Hong Kong, the only way out" and "Liberate Hong Kong, the revolution of our times," sprayed graffiti of the slogans and sang the protest anthem Glory to Hong Kong. They marched peacefully from the local train station to the "Million Boulevard" walkway.
Around 40 officers from Hong Kong's national security police department entered the campus to investigate after some of the slogans were deemed to be pro-independence.
The government, at that time, had said that the police "severely condemn the blatant violation of the National Security Law and criminal damage at the campus.
( With inputs from ANI )
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