Authorities consider increasing security around LegCo building
Hong Kong police arrested nine people in connection with local radical groups on suspicion of plotting bomb attacks ahead of a key vote in the city's legislature on the government's political reform this week.
Three bottles containing two liters of highly unstable explosives, known as TATP (Triacetone Triperoxide), were seized at an apartment in Sai Kung during a series of police raids, Au Chin-chau, a chief superintendent for the elite force Organised Crime and Triad Bureau, said at a press conference Monday.
TATP has been used in several terrorist attacks, notably the London transport bombings of 2005.
Police said some among the nine arrested have admitted that they were members of a local activist group, but refused to provide the name of the organization or how many of them are from the group.
Legislators have expressed safety concerns over the Wednesday meeting, as well as worries that some of the city's radical groups will continue to push the boundaries.
"This [bomb plot] will pose an even stronger and more dangerous threat when compared to the protest and disruptive behavior, such as breaking the glass door [of the council building] during the Occupy Central," Legislator Ann Chiang Lai-wan told the Global Times.
Several kilograms of solid substance and five liters of liquid substance believed to be chemicals for making explosives, along with several air guns, were also seized at an abandoned former studio of local broadcaster Asia Television (ATV) in Sai Kung in the early hours of Monday morning by the police bomb squad, which carried out a controlled explosion at the site.
The operation has led to the arrest of five male and four female Hong Kong residents aged 21 to 34. Among them is a student, a teaching assistant and several unemployed people, reported local broadcaster Radio Television Hong Kong.
The investigation is ongoing and more people could be arrested, police said.
Local media reports have linked the case to some "localist" groups' alleged plans to disrupt the meeting on Wednesday when the Legislative Council (LegCo) is set to debate and vote on Hong Kong's political reform package put forward by the local government.
"Localist" groups advocate a Hong Kong-first ideology.
A report by local newspaper Oriental Daily said the arrested may be connected to a local separatist group called "National Independence Party" formed at the end of last year during the Occupy Central Protest.
"If the reform proposal is passed on June 17, Hong Kong has to be prepared that there could be casualties, and that the legislative council [building] could turn into ruins as in Ukraine," the group had posted on its Facebook page in January. This post was quickly deleted.
Police have also recovered maps showing the Wan Chai and Admiralty districts on Hong Kong Island, which are close to the LegCo Building, believed to be where the bombs would detonate. The LegCo is currently evaluating the need for increased security or calling on police for assistance for the Wednesday vote, Chiang said.
Priscilla Leung Mei-fun, another legislator, said the case reflects the dangerous trend of radicalization believed to be influenced by the previous 79-day Occupy Central protest, which paralyzed many parts of the city before it ended in December.
"The illegal Occupy Central protest has planted a false belief in some immature young people that illegal behavior in the name of pursuing democracy does not entail any legal consequences," Leung told the Global Times, adding that some radical activists have blurred the line between political activities and criminal offenses.
Manufacturing explosives is a criminal offense in Hong Kong which could lead to a maximum 20 years in jail.
"Such violence has ravaged the spirit of the rule of law in Hong Kong. Hong Kong is an open society which respects different opinions, but violent acts like this prove that the political divide has translated into disruptive and criminal actions," Leung noted.
Opposition groups staged a protest on Sunday, which saw far fewer participants than organizers had predicted.
