Published 16:28 IST, December 20th 2019
Hong Kong: 4 people suspected of financing demonstrations arrested
Spark Alliance is one of the largest crowdfunding campaigns that is supporting the protesters in Hong Kong as more protestors are getting arrested and charged.
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Spark Alliance is one of the largest crowdfunding campaigns that is supporting the protesters in Hong Kong as more protestors are getting arrested resulting in mounting legal fees. Spark Alliance plays a crucial behind the scene role by helping out protestors that have been arrested and ending representatives to help them out of jail.
Secret funds that help protestors
The only reason that the Hong Kong protests have lasted as long as they have because a large portion of Hong Kong's professional class has been providing these types of funds with money that is in turn used to support protestors. On Thursday the police released a statement that four people who were allegedly linked to Spark Alliance were arrested for suspected money laundering, the first cases brought over financing the demonstrations after six months of protests against China’s tightening grip over Hong Kong.
This move will undoubtedly deal a major blow to the demonstrators. There have been over 6,000 arrests since the protests began. In addition to deterring protestors, these arrests will also deter Hong Kongs professional class from financing the protests.
According to 612 funds, the costs of a 60-day trial for a single person can be HK₹12.81 crore and most trials last much longer. According to reports, Hong Kong’s 2014 Occupy protest-related proceedings still going on. Among the dozens of groups like Spark, it is the most secretive. Some of the lawyers and regular donors are unaware of who runs it. But people still believe in them.
Even before the arrests on Thursday, the various donors were becoming agitated by the prospect that authorities may meet out retributions for supporting the protests but lawyers say that it would be very difficult to prove that the protestors broke any laws.
In a statement released by a spokesperson of Spark Alliance, they have deemed the arrests made by the authorities to be false charges and an attempt to distort the work of the Spark alliance.
14:55 IST, December 20th 2019