Hong Kong police have taken in two relatives of ex-district councillor Carmen Lau, who is wanted for allegedly breaching the national security law, to aid an investigation.
Activist Carmen Lau. File photo: Carmen Lau, via Facebook.
National security police arrived at a residence in Tai Wai at around 7 am on Monday, local media reported, and took away Lau’s 66-year-old uncle and 63-year-old-aunt. They were reportedly brought to Sha Tin Police Station.
HKFP has reached out to the police force for comment.
Lau, who lives in the UK according to her page on social media platform X, was among the six overseas activists facing a fresh round of national security arrest warrants, issued by police in December.
A member of the now-disbanded Civic Party, Lau was accused of inciting secession and colluding with a foreign country or external elements to endanger national security.
According to her wanted notice, she published social media posts and gave speeches advocating for the separation of Hong Kong from China, as well as requested foreign countries to engage in “hostile activities” against China and Hong Kong.
A national security law poster. Photo: GovHK.
Police are offering a HK$1 million reward for information that could lead to the activists’ arrests, including Lau’s.
Separately, she is also wanted for inciting blank votes as a form of protest in the 2021 Legislative Council elections – the first after an overhaul effectively shut out the opposition by requiring candidates to be deemed as “patriots” by the authorities in order to run.
Lau left Hong Kong in July 2021, according to her wanted notice.
She is currently a senior international advocacy associate at the Hong Kong Democracy Council, a US-based NGO that raises international support for democracy and human rights in Hong Kong.
19 overseas activists wanted
The arrest warrants announced last December marked the third time police had issued such notices for overseas activists.
The first time was in July 2023, when the police force issued arrest warrants for eight activists, including former lawmakers Ted Hui and Dennis Kwok. Police said they had “seriously violated the national security offences” by “calling for sanctions against local officials and “scheming for foreign countries to undermine Hong Kong’s status as a financial centre.”
A notice board shows posters of eight democrats wanted by the national security police. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.
In December 2023, police issued a second round of warrants to five activists, among them Simon Cheng, the founder of Hongkongers in Britain, a group that supports Hongkongers settling in the UK. He was detained by Chinese authorities as he attempted to return to Hong Kong from a business trip in Shenzhen in August 2019, when protests engulfed the city, and was granted asylum by the UK government in 2020.
A total of 19 activists have been issued arrest warrants for alleged national security offences. Police have called on the activists to return to Hong Kong and surrender themselves. At the same time, officers have been taking in the relatives and colleagues of those activists for investigation.
Officers have taken in pollster Robert Chung for questioning twice after an arrest warrant was issued for his ex-colleague Chung Kim-wah, who he worked with at the Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute (PORI).
