Things To Come: China Arrests U.S. Lawyer During 'Massive Crackdown' In Hong Kong

China Arrests US Lawyer During "Massive Crackdown" In Hong Kong

TYLER DURDEN

In what would be a shocking development, Bloomberg reports that during its "massive crackdown" purging countless local activists and politicians, the Hong Kong police - i.e. China - has arrested American Lawyer, John Clancey, using as a pretext the National Security Law, which everyone warned China would use as strawman to crack down on Hong Kong citizens and activists. Well, it now appears that the emboldened Beijing - which is delighted by the ascent of pro-China pushover Joe Biden to the White House  - is also using that law to arrest American citizens.

Earlier: "Massive Crackdown": Hong Kong Police Arrest Dozens Of Politicians & Activists

2021 is less than a week old and already Beijing is ramping up its efforts to suppress what's left of the pro-democracy opposition in Hong Kong. Right now, China hawks are preoccupied right now by a number of issues: the disappearance of Jack Ma (note: CNBC claims the Alibaba founder is just "laying low"), Beijing's refusal to allow international investigators inside the Wuhan Institue of Virology and, finally, the CCP's abusive treatment of China's Uyghur Muslim minority.

Now, less than two months after the last 19 members of the HK LegCo's pro-democracy opposition quit en masse over Beijing's demands that they swear a loyalty oath to uphold the new national security law and the supremacy of the CCP, Hong Kong police have rounded up dozens of pro-democracy activists. The arrests - described by western journalists as a "massive crackdown" - essentially confirm what many feared: all pro-democracy activists who haven't escaped Hong Kong will likely face arrest and imprisonment.

According to various media reports, police are rounding up dozens of pro-democracy politicians and activists.

With at least two student leaders - including Joshua Wong - already heading to prison, Wednesday's arrests mark the biggest crackdown under the new national security law, according to the NYT, one former opposition lawmaker was participating in a live video chat when he got the knock at the door.

A twitter account run by Wong's supporters claimed that his house was raided during the sweep with the arrests.

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