Hong Kong pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai arrested under security law

Hong Kong police said in a statement that seven people had been arrested on suspicion of violating the national security law, but did not reveal the names of those arrested

An aide to Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai says Lai was arrested Monday morning under the city’s national security law on suspicion of collusion with foreign powers. Jimmy Lai is being arrested for collusion with foreign powers at this time, Mark Simon wrote on Twitter.

Hong Kong police said in a statement that seven people had been arrested on suspicion of violating the national security law, but did not reveal the names of those arrested. Lai, who owns popular tabloid Apple Daily, is an outspoken pro-democracy figure in Hong Kong and regularly criticizes China’s authoritarian rule. Simon said that police searched both Lai and his son’s home, as well as other members of media group Next Media, which Lai founded.

Hong Kong police shoot protester, detain two as video goes live on Facebook

Footage showed a police officer drawing his sidearm in the district of Sai Wan Ho as he tried to detain a masked person at a junction that had been blocked by protesters

A Hong Kong police officer shot at masked protesters on Monday morning, hitting at least one in the torso, as anger sparked by the recent death of a student spilled into the rush hour commute.

The shooting, which was broadcast live on Facebook, is the latest escalation in more than five months of seething pro-democracy protests that have engulfed the international financial hub and battered its reputation. Footage showed a police officer drawing his sidearm in the district of Sai Wan Ho as he tried to detain a masked person at a junction that had been blocked by protesters. Another masked individual then approached the officer and was shot in the chest area, quickly falling to the ground, clutching their left side.

Seconds later, two more live rounds were fired by the officer during a scuffle and another masked protester went to ground, although the footage was less clear as to whether he was struck.

Police then detained the two people on the ground. A pool of blood could be seen near the first individual whose body initially appeared limp, although the person was later filmed conscious and even trying to make a run for it.

The second man was conscious, shouting his name to reporters as he was handcuffed. A police source, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed to AFP that live rounds were fired at more than one protester in Sai Wan Ho and that a statement would be issued…

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China plans to replace Hong Kong’s Carrie Lam as protests drag on: Report

The pro-Beijing leader has faced sustained criticism from protesters in the semi-autonomous city

International News: Beijing is drawing up a plan to remove Hong Kong’s beleaguered chief executive Carrie Lam, the Financial Times reported Wednesday, after nearly five months of pro-democracy unrest.

The pro-Beijing leader has faced sustained criticism from protesters in the semi-autonomous city. So far the central government in Beijing has given its support to her and the Hong Kong police, calling the demonstrators “rioters” and condemning the violence.

But according to the FT report, which quoted unnamed figures briefed on the deliberations, the Chinese government is drawing up a plan to replace her with an interim chief executive. However, sources told the newspaper that the plan would be dependent on the situation in the city first stabilising so that Beijing is not seen as giving in to violence.

Lam’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the report.Hong Kong has now been battered by 20 weeks of protests and with no political solution in sight, clashes have intensified each month. Earlier this month, Lam — who has refused to grant any major concessions to protesters — invoked a colonial-era emergency law to ban face masks, setting off a new wave of protests and vandalism that shut down much of the city’s transport network..

In Hong Kong’s leaderless protests, officials don’t know who to talk to

The lack of a clear leader is one of the main reasons the protests have carried on this long and show no end in sight

As a top adviser to Hong Kong’s government, Bernard Chan is searching for any protester who can strike a deal to end more than three months of unrest. In lunches with demonstrators and chats with friends who oppose the government, Chan often hears that the protests would stop if leader Carrie Lam even met two of the five demands. But nobody he meets can guarantee him that others will no longer hit the streets even after she formally withdrew a bill allowing extraditions to China that kicked off the protests in June.

“You alone stopping is not enough — who am I negotiating with?” Chan said in an interview on Friday, before the latest weekend clashes. “I can’t even convince the government to come to the table because they don’t know who we’re dealing with.”

The lack of a clear leader is one of the main reasons the protests have carried on this long and show no end in sight. For demonstrators, that’s by design: During the 2014 Occupy protests, the government was able to arrest key leaders and throw them in jail. Now the groups guard their anonymity and organize in online platforms like Telegram and LIHKG that are difficult to track..

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