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Hong Kong police charge five organisers of massive pro-democracy protests
Reuters - July 5, 2014
The march, which marked the 17th anniversary of Britain's returning of Hong Kong to mainland China, attracted more than half a million people and was ranked one Hong Kong's largest pro-democracy demonstrations.
Police say have charged the organisers with failure to comply with instructions from a police officer, obstructing officers performing their duties, leaving a running vehicle and providing false information to an officer. Police have not named those charged.
"This is political persecution," Civil Human Rights Front vice-convenor Icarus Wong said. "510,000 people marched... the government's response is to arrest the organisers."
Wong says police arrested Civil Human Rights Front convenor Johnson Yeung, the group's treasurer, a driver, and two volunteer workers.
Wong says the charge of providing false information brought against one of the organisers was for giving police the incorrect number for a street address, though the correct street name was provided.
The July 1 march is an annual event that marks Hong Kong's return to China as a special administrative region under a "one country, two systems" policy that gives it a separate legal system and wide-ranging autonomy.
This year's march followed an unofficial referendum on democracy in which nearly 800,000 voted, and led to an overnight sit-in in Hong Kong's Central business district. Police arrested more than 500 people early Wednesday after they sat down and refused to leave.
Tensions escalated again on Thursday when lawmakers threw objects at Hong Kong chief executive Leung Chunying during a Legislative Council meeting, and shouted for democratic reforms.
The standoff intensified last month when Beijing published a cabinet-level white paper strongly reaffirming China's control over the autonomous region.
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