The Pulse：Mass arrest of 53 democrats: interview with Lau Siu-kai & Lo Kin-hei; Geoffrey Ma's retire

Early on Wednesday morning, around a thousand police arrested 53 pro-democracy figures, searched more than 70 premises in relation to last July’s unofficial primary poll to decide which candidates should stand in the now-postponed Legislative Council election.. The arestees are accused of subversion under the National Security Law. Those rounded up include the originators of the primary, as well as co-ordinators and candidates. The same day, with a court “production order” , the police demanded that four media organisations hand over materials related to national security. Secretary for Security John Lee said the arrests were “necessary” as the “active elements are suspected of organising evil plans to paralyse the government”. Liz Yuen spoke to sociologist Lau Siu-kai and Chairman of the Democratic Party Lo Kin-hei about the implications of the latest roundup.

Since 2019 when protests errupted, Beijing has repeatedly said that Hong Kong is in need of judicial reform. Beijing and its supporters maintain that members of the legislative and judiciary have to be patriotic. Hong Kong courts and judges have been criticised by both sides of the political divide and by Chinese state media, especially with regard to verdicts in highly controversial cases. This week, Geoffrey Ma, who retired as Chief Justice on Friday, offered a strong defence of judicial independence in Hong Kong. Two weeks ago, we spoke to retired judge of CFA Henry Litton online from Australia about his views of the need to reform Hong Kong’s legal system.