Activists arrested in Hong Kong: Joshua Wong, others charged

Joshua Wong and Agnes Chow, from the Demosisto party, were arrested and charged on Friday, while party chairman Ivan Lam, who is not currently in Hong Kong, was charged in his absence, reported BBC.

Legislator Jeremy Tam of the Civic Party was also arrested but it was not clear if he had been charged, reported the British media.

Meanwhile, a major pro-democracy march, which was scheduled to be held on Sunday, has been called off.

Jimmy Sham, the convener of organisers Civil Human Rights Front, was quoted as saying by BBC that the group could not get permission to hold the march, and that its priority was to hold protests that were both legally and physically safe.

But one of the other organisers, Bonnie Leung, told the BBC that people would "be clever" and find "legal and safe ways" to protest anyway.

"I don't think the movement will end at all," she said. "If the government is trying everything to threaten people away, or it's trying to wait for the movement to die down, it's not going to achieve that."

The Demosisto party earlier said its secretary-general Joshua Wong, a pro-democracy activist in Hong Kong, has been arrested by the police in the city on Friday.

" Our secretary-general @joshuawong was just arrested this morning at roughly 7:30, when he was walking to the South Horizons MTR station. He was forcefully pushed into a private minivan on the street in broad daylight. Our lawyers following the case now," the party tweeted.

Police said on Wednesday that some 900 people have been arrested since protests began in early June, triggered by a controversial extradition bill, reported the British media.

The bill has now been suspended.

The anti-government rallies still took place in the city for the past few weeks as they have now evolved into a broader pro-democracy movement demanding democratic reform and an investigation into alleged police brutality.

Protests have also taken place at Hong Kong International Airport and other tourist spots in the city.

The protests are a big challenge to Chinese President Xi Jinping who assumed power seven years ago.

The protesters say they are fighting to preserve the “one country, two systems” arrangement and a promise of freedom under which Hong Kong was returned to China as a specially administered region by the British in 1997.