Hong Kong police have yet to confirm the arrests, which media said related to marches on Aug 18 and Oct 1 last year - both days of large and at times violent protests across the city. Democratic legislator Claudia Mo, who was not among those arrested, said the government, led by Chief Executive Carrie Lam, was trying "into introduce a ring of terror in Hong Kong". Hong Kong government and security officials have recently described some of the democracy movement's actions as being close to terrorism. Hong Kong returned to Beijing in 1997 under a "one country, two systems" formula that guarantees it broad freedoms not seen in mainland China, and a high degree of autonomy. A previous attempt to draft a national security law for Hong Kong, known as Article 23, was met with mass protests in 2003 and abandoned.

Source: bd News24 April 18, 2020 06:33 UTC