Link: https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3128836/hong-kong-protests-more-10200-arrested-connection-unrest
According to documents published by the Department of Justice, Civil Service Bureau, and Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau, there have been 10,242 arrests. More than 600 people have now been sentenced, with another 2,521 facing charges ranging from rioting to unlawful assembly. At that time, 26 current or former civil servants were detained or charged with involvement in the unrest. The figures were revealed in papers published by the Department of Justice, the Civil Service Bureau, and the Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau to lawmakers on Thursday. 2,521 of the 10,242 arrested had or were facing legal action, including 720 people charged with rioting. The rest have been charged with illegal assembly, vandalism, desecrating the national flag, possessing an offensive firearm, assaulting a police officer, and blocking a vehicle on an expressway, among other offenses. Months of demonstrations erupted in Hong Kong in June 2019, triggered by the now-withdrawn extradition bill. The bill’s opposition morphed into broader, frequently violent civil unrest, with police being harshly chastised for their treatment of demonstrators and becoming targets of online doxxing. Last June, Beijing imposed a national security law on the region, and peace and order have gradually been restored since then.
When a city arrests more than 10 thousand people who attended a protest with an estimated million people, it shows to other countries that they will try anything to shut down the protesters and scare them into not protesting. With 600 protesters already sentenced and most likely facing prison time, it send the wrong message to protesters. It tells them that if they protest, they risk being arrested and having their life come to a halt.
This is what the affect of a global superpower can have on a city that they do not fully own yet. China has been pushing Hong Kong into a corner more and more as the days go by and protesters who are trying to stop China from fully immersing themselves and changing the economy and government are being shut down. I truly hope that the Hong Kong protesters keep fighting to stop China from changing their precious city and find a way to keep their democracy and freedom because that’s what they grew up with and what they are used to. You can not change someone who has lived with freedom all their life to suddenly subject to getting those rights and freedoms taken away.