National security police arrested three local people aged between 33 and 79 on September 3 over an alleged offence under the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance involving an act with a seditious intention. The arrests concerned an August 31 gathering outside MTR Prince Edward Station.
Police alleged that the group stood outside the station holding bouquets and shouted slogans that officers described as seditious.
Police also alleged that the group spread false information, attacked the Hong Kong government with lies and smeared the Police Force. Officers said the alleged conduct was intended to incite hatred against the government and law-enforcement agencies.
The three detainees comprised two men and one woman. Reports identified one as former Kowloon City district councillor Fung King-man, while Ming Pao named another as Chan Koon-yuk and identified the third as a person surnamed Tam. These identifications were reported by the media and were not presented in the supplied material as full official disclosures.
Police said they had obtained court search warrants before the operation, searched the detainees’ residences and seized evidence.
Ming Pao reported that Fung and Chan were members of the Mong Kok “Gau Wu” group. It also reported that Chan had previously received a five-month prison sentence over social-media posts alleged to have intended to incite Hong Kong independence or hatred or contempt towards the central or Hong Kong governments.
Police said the so-called “831 incident” had been proved to have no factual basis, describing it as a lie used to attack the government and smear the police. That was the police position on the incident.
The reports differed on the detainees’ status on September 5. i-CABLE reported that Fung and the other male detainee had left police stations that afternoon, while Ming Pao said all three remained in custody. The supplied reports do not resolve the discrepancy, and they do not establish whether charges had been formally laid or what the subsequent legal status of the detainees was.