Over 50 Hong Kong Activists Arrested For Breaching Security Law-media

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Pro-democracy supporters protest to urge for the release of 12 Hong Kong activists arrested as they reportedly sailed to Taiwan for political asylum and citizen journalist Zhang Zhan outside China’s Liaison Office, in Hong Kong, China December 28, 2020. (REUTERS/Tyrone Siu)

The arrests in the Asian financial hub included well known democratic figures and former lawmakers James To, Lam Cheuk Ting and Lester Shum, according to the Democratic Party’s Facebook page and public broadcaster RTHK.

• Reuters
• Last Updated: January 06, 2021, 07:03 IST
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The security law was imposed by Beijing on the former British colony in June.

It punishes what China broadly defines as secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces with up to life in jail and has been condemned by the West and human rights groups as a tool to crush dissent in the semi-autonomous, Chinese-ruled city.

Authorities in Hong Kong and Beijing say it is vital to plug gaping holes in national security defences exposed by months of sometimes violent anti-government and anti-China protests that rocked the global financial hub in 2019.