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Three Ex-Hong Kong Lawmakers Arrested for Protests in Legislative Chamber

VOA News

   Three former pro-democracy Hong Kong lawmakers were arrested Wednesday
   for disrupting legislative proceedings earlier this year.

   Ted Hui, Eddie Chu and Raymond Chan revealed their arrests on their
   Facebook pages.

   The arrests stem from two separate incidents back in May and June when
   the legislature was debating a bill that would criminalize any
   disrespect or abuse of the Chinese national anthem.

   A legislative session in late May was interrupted when Hui rushed to
   the front of the chamber and dropped a rotten plant in the middle of
   the floor. Days later, Chu and Chan also rushed the chamber and held up
   a sign that said "A murderous regime stinks for ten thousand years"
   before dropping a pot of stinking liquid on the floor.

   Hong Kong police said in a statement they had arrested three
   ex-lawmakers and charged them with contempt and attempting to cause
   harm with a dangerous substance.The lawmaker's names were not revealed
   in the statement.

   Hui was among 15 pro-democracy lawmakers who resigned en masse last
   week after four of their colleagues were expelled after a Chinese
   legislative committee approvedrules saying that Hong Kong's government
   could disqualify any lawmaker believed to be a threat to national
   security without going through the courts. The ouster and subsequent
   resignations leave the 70-seat Council with only pro-Beijing lawmakers.

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