Hong Kong police defend arrest of lawmakers

Police in Hong Kong on Sunday defended their decision to arrest seven members of the pro-democracy movement, including a number of current and former lawmakers. Superintendent Chan Wing-yu of the Hong Kong Island regional crime squad said the arrests had been made on the basis of evidence alone.

"It's not about the social status or political background," he told reporters. The arrests were in relation to scuffles that broke out in the city's legislature during a faceoff between pro-democracy and pro-Beijing lawmakers earlier this year.A police statement said that six men and one woman had been detained on suspicion of contempt and interfering with legislative members. It did not name them. The statement said the arrests are part of an investigation into a May 8 committee meeting in which pro-democracy lawmakers rushed toward the chairperson's seat and security guards shoved back.

The guards carried out several pro-democracy lawmakers, including Eddie Chu and Ray Chan, after they had been ordered to leave for disorderly conduct. Both stepped down on Sept. 30. Chan said on Twitter that he was arrested at 7 a.m. Sunday, and Hong Kong media said that the Chu had also been arrested. The Democratic Party said on its Facebook page that three of its legislative members had been arrested, including party chairman Wu Chi-wai. The May 8 incident was the first in a series of scuffles over a bill approved in June that made it illegal to insult the Chinese national anthem.

(Image Credit: AP) 

This story has not been edited by www.republicworld.com and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.