Hong Kong: Hong Kong’s Police National Security Department said early on Wednesday it had arrested six current or former senior staff from an online media firm “for conspiracy to publish seditious publication”.
Hong Kong broadcaster TVB said the six are current or former staff from pro-democracy news website Stand News.
According to news reports, Patrick Lam, the chief editor of Stand News, was among those who were arrested. Lam was reportedly arrested by police in his home and several gadgets were also confiscated from him.
Following months of anti-government protests in 2019, Beijing last year imposed a sweeping National Security Law in the semi-autonomous city that critics say restricts freedoms promised to the former British colony that are not found on mainland China.
The law criminalises secessionism, subversion, terrorism, and foreign collusion to intervene in the city’s affairs.