Martin Lee Should Feel Ashamed: Police Chief

Police Commissioner Chris Tang on Saturday hit out at barrister and veteran democrat Martin Lee, saying he should be "ashamed" of himself for "being a bad influence" on young people in Hong Kong.

Tang spoke to reporters after police arrested Lee and 14 other prominent pro-democracy figures in connection with several anti-government protests last year.

Referring to Lee but without mentioning his name, the police chief said he was very worried and shocked to hear one of the arrestees who is respected in the legal sector saying he felt proud to be charged over Hong Kong's fight for democracy along with young people in the city.

“As a veteran in the legal sector, he should encourage youngsters to abide by the law. But he continued encouraging them to break the law. I think he should not feel proud. He should feel ashamed,” Tang said, without elaborating on his accusation.

He added that the police are "unbiased and fearless" when making arrests.

In an apparent reference to media tycoon Jimmy Lai who was also arrested on Saturday, Tang said he doesn't care if any of the defendants has power or is influential.

“We don’t care about their background. We don’t care if they can control the media to continue smearing the police or inciting hatred against us,” he said.

“Some of my friends told me to be careful… they said you’re arresting their boss. The staff will continue targeting and smearing you. But I don’t care. We will arrest whoever breaks the law,” Tang said.

He also dismissed allegations that the arrests were made as part of collaborative efforts with Beijing’s liaison office in Hong Kong to silence the pro-democracy camp.

He said police took action based on the evidence they had gathered.