Democratic Party 'uncowed' By Mass Arrest

The Democratic Party on Friday vowed it would not be cowed into submission by the arrest this week of seven high-profile members, saying the crackdown will not affect its political stance.

Former lawmakers James To, Wu Chi-wai, Andrew Wan, Lam Cheuk-ting and Helena Wong were among 55 people arrested in the biggest national security operation since the passage of the law last year.

They are accused of subversion in relation to their participation in the pan-democrats’ unofficial primary poll in the run-up to the 2020 Legislative Council election, which ultimately got postponed by a year.

Police say the exercise was part of a bigger plot to paralyse the government by repeatedly voting down the budget to force the Chief Executive to step down.

Most of the suspects have been released on bail and no charges have been laid against anyone so far, and the Democratic Party insists it has done nothing wrong.

But Lam said in a press conference that he expects the authorities to bring charges eventually, and accused the government of trying to bully people into submission.

"The regime tries to make Hong Kong people silent. They want to create a chilling effect. They want us to bow to the regime, say yes to anything from the Carrie Lam administration," he said.

Party chairman Lo Kin-hei says the party won’t change a thing.

“The position and ideology of the Democratic Party is very clear. This will not change. This will never change … If the government threatens us or try to intimidate us and then we just change our political belief, then that’s not a political party. That’s just some pro-Beijing puppets," he said.