Leading pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong was arrested by Hong Kong police on Friday morning, ahead of another week of planned protests in the semi-autonomous region.
“Our secretary-general @joshuawongcf was just arrested this morning at roughly 7:30, when he was walking to the South Horizons MTR station,” Wong’s political organisation, Demosisto, tweeted.
BREAKING: Our secretary-general @joshuawongcf was just arrested this morning at roughly 7:30, when he was walking to the South Horizons MTR station. He was forcefully pushed into a private minivan on the street in broad daylight. Our lawyers following the case now.
— Demosistō 香港眾志 (@demosisto) August 30, 2019
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The party added that Wong was forcefully pushed into a private minivan on the street “in broad daylight”. It did not immediately reveal any further information but said their lawyer was working on the case.
While the activist has not played a central role in the recent weeks of protests, he is still an important figurehead in the democracy movement.
Born in 1996, eight months before control of Hong Kong was handed over from the UK to China, Wong has spent most of his adolescence and all of his early adulthood fighting for the city’s rights against what he and others say is increasing encroachment by Beijing.
Hong Kong has witnessed 12 consecutive weeks of anti-government protests, which began with a now-dead extradition bill, but broadened to include the calls for democracy and police accountability.
More than 800 people have been arrested since the beginning of the protests in June.
(With ANI inputs)