Hong Kong police arrest 6 people accused of violating the city’s new national security law

HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong police on Tuesday arrested six people, including a former organizer of the city’s decades-long annual vigil that commemorated China’s Tiananmen Square crackdown, for allegedly publishing seditious social media posts, in what were the first publicly known arrests under the city’s new national security law.

Secretary for Security Chris Tang said Chow Hang-tung, a former leader of the group behind the vigil, alongside five others, used a Facebook page to anonymously publish the posts. Police said their acts began in April and that the suspects were targeting a “sensitive date.”

The authorities have not detailed the content of the posts. But the page started publishing a series of posts to mark the upcoming 35th anniversary of the 1989 crackdown, a politically sensitive topic in Hong Kong and mainland China, on April 30.

Tang alleged the group made the posts with the intent to incite dissatisfaction or even hatred against the Chinese central government, the Hong Kong government and the judiciary. The posts also aimed to encourage netizens to organize activities “endangering national security,” he said.

“Although Hong Kong has embarked on the journey from stability to prosperity these days, we cannot let down our guard. We are still facing national security risks,” Tang told reporters at a briefing.

The authorities did not specify the content of the posts or identify the other five suspects.

The introduction of the new security law in March — four years after Beijing imposed a similar law that had all but wiped out public dissent — has deepened worries about the erosion of the city’s freedoms.

The new law, known locally as “Article 23,” has expanded the government’s power to deal with future