3 re-arrested for alleged sedition after marking anniversary of 2019 Prince Edward police storming
Police have re-arrested three people on suspicion of sedition, after previously apprehending them outside Prince Edward station on the anniversary of a 2019 incident when police stormed MTR trains on the platform. In an official statement issued Saturday, authorities said the trio were arrested by the National Security Department on Thursday on suspicion of “doing […]
On the anniversary of the 2019 MTR train storming at Prince Edward station, police have re-arrested three individuals on suspicion of sedition. The National Security Department apprehended the trio on Thursday, according to an official statement released on Saturday.
The three arrested individuals – a 33-year-old man, a 79-year-old man, and a 33-year-old woman – were initially apprehended near Prince Edward MTR station on Monday. They had gathered there to commemorate the seven-year anniversary of the 2019 incident, also known as the "831 incident."
During the 2019 event, riot police stormed the MTR trains on the platform, pepper-spraying civilians and driving away journalists and medical personnel. Officials later claimed that discrepancies in the official records of injuries and the station's closure fueled rumors of civilian deaths. The Hong Kong Police Force watchdog largely cleared the force of wrongdoing, but critics accused it of lacking independence and investigatory powers.
One of the arrestees, Virginia Fung, is a pro-democracy district councillor who served from 1994 to 2007. She was convicted of rental allowance fraud in 2006 and barred from serving on the local council again. Sedition is an offence under Hong Kong's local security law, potentially leading to up to seven years in prison if convicted.
Written by urgent.news from Hong Kong Free Press's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
