CHINA-HONGKONG: CRACKDOWN ON PRO-DEMOCRACY MOVEMENT
Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters took to the streets in Hongkong on August 20, 2017. Hongkong police conservatively estimated their number at around 22,000 which is more than the 'Occupy Central' or 'Umbrella protests.
The Hong Kong government is cracking down on the pro-democracy movement. Since the Umbrella Movement of 2014, it has brought 39 legal cases against 26 pro-democracy leaders, successfully applied for High Court judicial reviews which banned from office six elected pro-democracy Legislative Council members, and – in turn – has effectively cancelled the votes of over 180,000 voters. It has also prosecuted dozens of other pro-democracy activists. In this week alone, it has successfully appealed the original sentences of 16 democracy activists, including Umbrella Movement leaders Joshua Wong, Nathan Law, Alex Chow and Raphael Wong, with the High Court sentencing them to between six and thirteen months in prison for the nonviolent protest-related crime of unlawful assembly.Within the pro-democracy movement, DemosistÅ and LSD have been hit particularly hard as of the 39 legal cases brought against pro-democracy leaders, six are against DemosistÅ and 10 are against the LSD. |