Dear Brothers and Sisters,
We brought you the news about the arrest of Carol Ng, chair of Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions (HKCTU), early last month.
https://mailchi.mp/hkctu.org.hk/call-for-hksar-government-to-cease-political-suppression-now
On 28th February the police charged her, among 47 arrestees in total, for conspiracy to commit subversion. Consequently she has returned to custody, and the case is mentioned on 1st March.
Before entering the police station, Carol met with the supporters of HKCTU. She hoped to see everyone go as far as possible and keep the faith in this worsening era. She said, ‘It takes a second to give in but a life time to persist’. She promised to keep going through the difficulties.
Carol, Winnie Yu, chair of Hospital Authority Employees Alliance and others who are prosecuted in the case were the candidates or organisers of the primaries in 2020, aiming to finalise the list of pro-democratic candidates and win the most possible seats in the election of the Legislative Council (LegCo). The authorities kept accusing them of conspiring to paralyse the government once elected into LegCo. Indeed it is ridiculous for a democratically elected councillor who balances the government power to be labelled as subversive. The prosecution of the two trade union leaders also shows the crackdown on labour in election campaigning and legislative processes.
Even though the regime becomes increasingly intolerant towards dissidence, we will just stick to our beliefs and values, fight against injustice to labour, and work for democracy and rights as before. Even if LegCo is no longer an option, we will just take back to the streets as always, until justice comes.
Fuelled with this update, the We Love Freedom in Hong Kong campaign gets going further and invites your participation. The campaign started in early February when Cheuk-yan Lee, HKCTU General Secretary, was about to go on trial. Now please join us again by posting another photo or message with the hashtags #SolidarityWithHKUnion and #WeLoveFreedominHK at your social media to draw attention to this massive prosecution, as well as following our public pages.
Yours faithfully,
Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions (HKCTU)