Hong Kong police arrest fifth suspect in clamp-down on pro-democracy activists

By James Pomfret and Jessie Pang

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Police in Hong Kong arrested a man on Thursday suspected of links to pro-democracy activists based abroad, picking him up at the city's international airport a day after arresting four others for various national security offences.

Police had issued arrest warrants days earlier for eight prominent overseas-based activists, including Britain-based former Demosisto member Nathan Law, and offered bounties of HK$1 million ($128,000) for information leading to any arrest.

Citing unnamed sources, media in Hong Kong connected the four men arrested on Wednesday to an online platform known as "Punish Mee" that was allegedly used to provide financial aid to the eight wanted activists overseas.

"Police do not rule out the possibility that more arrests will be made," the police said in a statement on Thursday that withheld the name of the latest man arrested, but gave his age as 24 years.

One source with direct knowledge of the matter identified him as Calvin Chu Yan-ho, a former member of Demosisto.

The pro-democracy group was disbanded in 2020, hours after China imposed a national security law in Hong Kong. Its former leader, Joshua Wong, was arrested January, 2021, and charged with conspiracy to commit subversion for participating in an unofficial primary election organised by democracy supporters.

Ivan Lam, a former Demosisto chairman, was reportedly among the four men arrested on Wednesday.

China's enactment of a sweeping national security law in 2020 has been criticised as a tool of repression by governments including the United States. Chinese authorities, however, say it has restored stability in the city after protracted pro-democracy protests in 2019.

(Reporting by James Pomfret and Jessie Pang; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)