1. Half a world away, my heart is heavy. Two @demosisto colleagues — Standing Committee Member Tobias Leung and Vice Chairman @IsaacChengCKL — have been arrested (and now released on bail) in the last few days alone, since Beijing announced the #HongKong national-security law.
2. What happened? In light of Carrie Lam‘s politically-motivated inaction early on in the pandemic, we imported 1.3 million masks for Hong Kongers from the Americas. We soon also started selling our own, branded as “Not Made in China“ on the package to obscure their origin.
3. So the customs agency indicts the duo, who head this project, for violating the Trade Descriptions Ordinance. It has deduced (correctly) that our masks were produced either in Hong Kong or #Taiwan. Its logic, then, is that they couldn‘t possibly have been “Not Made in China.“
4. After conducting various tests, even the authorities concede that our masks meet all relevant protective standards. Still, the public is recommended against using them. How ludicrous.
5. Designed to quell commercial fraud, the law isn‘t just politicized to uphold Beijing‘s “One China“ principle. It, too, grants authorities the power to search us without a warrant. Our headquarters were thus raided, with over 32,000 masks — about HK$90,000 in value — seized.
6. This is blatant suppression. In fact, since the anti-extradition movement broke out last summer, many of our members have faced various criminal charges. And with their passports confiscated, @joshuawongcf and @chowtingagnes have lost their freedom of movement once again.
7. There’s little doubt what we‘ll all be facing once the national-security law is enacted, the possibility of which is high. We‘re looking at a legislative timeline of just one to two months. Our resistance must continue in the meantime, but I hope the world won’t neglect us.
