Five members of a Hong Kong union behind a series of children's books about sheep trying to hold back wolves from their village have been arrested for sedition, police announced Thursday.

The arrests by the new national security police unit, which is spearheading a sweeping crackdown on dissent, are the latest action against pro-democracy activists since huge and often violent protests convulsed the city two years ago.

Police said the two men and three women aged between 25 to 28 "conspired to publish, distribute, exhibit or copy seditious publications".

The group was attempting to stir up "the public's -- and especially young children's -- hatred towards Hong Kong's government and judiciary and to incite violence and illegal acts," police said in their statement.

The five arrested people were members of a union and HK$160,000 ($20,600) in funds had been frozen under a new national security law China imposed on Hong Kong last year, police added.

A police source told AFP that the arrested men and women were members of The General Union of Hong Kong Speech Therapists.

In recent months the union published three illustrated e-books that try to explain Hong Kong's democracy movement to children.

Democracy supporters are portrayed as sheep living in a village surrounded by wolves.

The first book, titled "Guardians of Sheep Village" explains the 2019 pro-democracy protests that swept through Hong Kong.

"Janitors of Sheep Village", the second book, sees cleaners in the village go on strike to force out wolves who leave litter everywhere.

The book's introduction explains it is a reference to Hong Kong medical workers striking last year in a bid to force the government to close the border with mainland China at the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

The final book in the trilogy -- "The 12 Braves of Sheep Village" -- is about a group of sheep who flee their village by boat because of the wolves.

It is a direct reference to 12 Hong Kongers who made a failed bid to escape by speedboat last year to Taiwan but were detained by the Chinese coastguard and jailed.

Sedition is a colonial-era law that until last year had not been used since Hong Kong's 1997 handover to China.

It carries up to two years in jail for a first offence.

Police and prosecutors are now regularly using it alongside the national security law to clamp down on political speech and views.

Most of those arrested for such crimes are denied bail.

"Residents must see the facts clearly, must not condone or beautify violence and should not let the next generation be incited and misled by untrue and biased information," police said.

Hong Kong court jails seven over train station mob attack
Hong Kong (AFP) July 22, 2021 - Seven Hong Kong government supporters who took part in a violent assault on democracy supporters and commuters were jailed Thursday for what the trial judge described as an "indiscriminate attack".

The jailings came exactly two years after a gang of men dressed in white shirts and carrying sticks descended on people returning at night from a democracy rally in the town of Yuen Long.

The brazen assault -- and the police's failure to respond quickly enough -- was a turning point in 2019's huge and often violent pro-democracy protests, further hammering public trust in both the force and Hong Kong's government.

Only a handful of attackers were ever identified and charged by police.

On Thursday, seven men were given terms of between three years and nine months to seven years in jail following their conviction for rioting.

Judge Eddie Yip said the gang of attackers had "collectively lost their minds" and heavy sentences were required because of the violence used and its impact on the community.

"They collectively took the law into their own hands and put residents in extreme terror," he said.

After the sentences were read out, some supporters of the defendants shouted insults at Yip, including calling him "dog judge".

One man holding a Chinese flag repeatedly shouted "dog judge" as he walked outside the courtroom.

- Flashpoint -

During the Yuen Long attack more than a hundred men pounced on protesters as well as reporters and ordinary commuters, sending some 50 people to hospital.

Much of the attack was broadcast online by journalists and victims. Police later confirmed some of those involved had links to triad organised crime gangs.

The ambush became a public relations disaster for Hong Kong's government, especially after police officers were photographed talking to men in white wielding sticks and letting them leave the scene.

An award-winning investigation by public broadcaster RTHK found police did not stop a build-up of men with sticks in Yuen Long in the hours before the attack.

A producer on that investigation, Bao Choy, was later convicted for making improper vehicle licence plate searches as part of an effort to trace the attackers.

Hong Kong police have consistently denied any wrongdoing and allegations of collusion. It says its officers were too busy handling violent democracy rallies across the city.

In more recent months, police have sought to recast events of that night with one senior officer calling it an "evenly matched" fight between two opposing sides.

They have charged some of those who were attacked with rioting, including prominent pro-democracy politician Lam Cheuk-ting who was beaten bloody. Lam is expected to go on trial in 2023.

In late June, Hong Kong's newly appointed police chief Raymond Siu said the response to the attack had fallen short of "some residents' expectations".

But he also asked people to "move on".

Related Links
China News from SinoDaily.com

Tweet

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only

Pandemic and politics leaves Hong Kong's poor languishing
Hong Kong (AFP) July 21, 2021
Squeezed into a tiny temporary apartment, Rainbow and her family struggle to make ends meet in Hong Kong, where the number of households in poverty has soared during recent political turmoil and the coronavirus pandemic. For much of the last year, Rainbow's electrician husband left their 290 square-foot (27 square-meter) studio flat each morning to look for work. Most days he returns empty-handed. "Before the pandemic, he could regularly work for 20 to 25 days a month, but now he only gets four ... read more