Hong Kong arrests 5 for sedition before China rule anniversary

• Two men, aged 28 and 30, were arrested and charged, with up to two years in prison.
• They were accused of using social media to “promote feelings of ill will and enmity between different classes.
• President Xi Jinping could be complicated by the country’s zero-tolerance policy for coronavirus infection risks.

Hong Kong police have arrested five people on suspicion of sedition as the city prepares to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Chinese rule and a possible visit from China’s President Xi Jinping.

Two men, aged 28 and 30, were arrested and charged on Wednesday with “doing an act or acts with seditious intent,” a crime punishable by up to two years in prison.

They were accused of using social media to “promote feelings of ill will and enmity between different classes of Hong Kong’s population and incite the use of violence,” according to police.

Read More: Hong Kong police make multiple arrests as Tiananmen gatherings banned

Hong Kong authorities are on high alert as the city prepares for the pivotal date of July 1, when a new government will be sworn in and the former colony marks 25 years of its handover.

While past Chinese leaders tended to visit Hong Kong on key anniversaries, a potential visit by Xi next week has been complicated by the country’s zero-tolerance policy for coronavirus infection risks.

Beijing imposed a national security law on Hong Kong in 2020 in the wake of massive democracy protests, which was wielded by officials to crack down on dissent.

Local authorities have also dusted off the little-used offense of sedition, which was first penned by British colonial rulers and had been long criticized as an anti-free-speech law.

Over the last two years, sedition has been wielded against journalists, unionists, activists, a former pop star, and people critical of the government’s response to the Covid pandemic.

More than 190 people in Hong Kong have been arrested for national security crimes, though authorities have dismissed criticisms about shrinking civil liberties.

Police on Wednesday also announced three new arrests in relation to a previous case involving a martial arts coach accused of running an armed separatist movement.

Read More: Hong Kong media outlet closes after police raid, arrests

Officers arrested three men aged 39 to 50 for sedition and seized “a large number of offensive weapons” from their homes, including machetes, knives, and swords.

Authorities charged two people in March after they allegedly established a martial arts training center in order to organize a “armed force for Hong Kong independence.”