Hong Kong national security police have arrested three local residents on suspicion of sedition after people stood holding flowers and shouting slogans outside Prince Edward MTR station on August 31. The force's National Security Department made the arrests on Hong Kong Island and in Kowloon on September 3, for allegedly committing an act with seditious intention under the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance, Taiwan's Central News Agency (CNA) reported. All of those arrested remained in custody, and the operation was continuing.
What do police allege? Police said people stood outside the station holding flowers on the evening of August 31 and shouted slogans the force described as seditious. In the police account, those involved are suspected of spreading false information, attacking the Hong Kong government with lies and smearing the police, with the intention of inciting others to hatred of the government and law enforcement agencies.
Who was arrested? The three are aged between 33 and 79, CNA reported, citing Ming Pao's news website. Two of them were identified as Chan Kwun-yuk (陳冠旭) and former Kowloon City district councillor Fung King-man (馮競文), both members of the Mong Kok "gau wu" group. The group emerged after the Umbrella Movement's occupation zone in Mong Kok was cleared in late 2014, when residents staged roving gatherings and displays around Mong Kok and Yau Ma Tei under the banner of "shopping", rendered through the Cantonese homophone "gau wu".
What else is known about the three? Those held are two men and a woman, and among them Chan was previously sentenced to five months in prison over multiple social media posts made between January 2021 and June 2022, CNA reported. The posts were alleged to be intended to incite "Hong Kong independence" and hatred or contempt of the central or Hong Kong governments. Fung was arrested during the 2014 "Occupy Central" movement for obstructing the clearance of Causeway Bay. In June this year, Fung was taken away by police for investigation after raising what was described as a seditious hand gesture in Causeway Bay.
