Lee Cheuk Yan, general secretary of the independent Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions (HKCTU), was arrested on 28 February 2020 and charged with “unlawful assembly” before being released on bail pending his court hearing. Lee was arrested at the same time as pro-democracy politician Yeung Sum and publisher Jimmy Lai in what the HKCTU denounced as «a well-coordinated operation carried out by the Hong Kong police» and «a plot to further suppress Hong Kong citizens and workers’ rights to freedom of association».
On 15 June 2020, Lee Cheuk Yan and fourteen other pro-democracy leaders and activists appeared in court, charged with participating in and organising illegal assemblies in 2019 demanding universal suffrage and the withdrawal of the extradition bill and universal suffrage. The charges stem from their participation in the mass demonstration organised on 31 August 2019 to mark the 5th anniversary of the Chinese authorities’ decision to deny the people of Hong Kong their right to universal suffrage. Police that day violently and indiscriminately attacked and beat demonstrators and citizens.
The charges against Lee Cheuk Yan and others – arrested in February for a demonstration the previous August – testify to the authorities’ determination to stamp out the democracy movement. In total, some 7,000 people have been arrested, and 80% of the cases are still “under investigation”.
