1 week Ago By James Lee
Members of Hong Kong’s Democratic Party, as well as their families and employers, have received harassing messages and letters in the run-up to an internal election, party chair Lo Kin-hei has said. Speaking on a Cantonese talk show hosted by party member and former lawmaker Emily Lau , Lo said that the harassment has lasted for months, on and off. “It could be over email, letters, or over WhatsApp,” he said, adding that he, too, had been a target.
Lo also said he believed the messages were part of an attempt to dissuade people from running in the elections for the party’s Central Committee and Disciplinary Committee, scheduled for December. “I would describe the situation as similar to that of the Hong Kong Journalists Association earlier,” Lo said, referring to a targeted harassment campaign against board members of a local journalists’ union as well as dozens of reporters from at least 13 media outlets. HKJA chair Selina Cheng in September said that journalists had received emails and letters with defamatory content to their home addresses, workplaces and other venues since June.
Lo on Wednesday said that family members and employers of the Democratic Party members received warnings about the party members allegedly being involved in “anti-China” activities, though they had not received any threats on their personal safety, as was the case for some of the journalists harassed earlier this year. “They’ll say, ‘you have an employee named so-and-so who is a core member of the Democratic Party engaging in anti-China activities,’ or things like that,” Lo said, adding that similar messages had been received over the past months. Messages received on WhatsApp were typically sent from overseas numbers, and emails were encrypted, Lo said, while some messages were signed by “Hong Kong citizens who love the country and Hong Kong.
” “We’re walking tall and proud. We’re not doing anything wrong, and we will continue to speak up for Hong Kong,” Lo said. Lo added that he was not worried that people would be swayed, or that the committees would not have enough members, as six or seven people had already joined the race.
Speaking on Commercial Radio on Thursday, Lo said the party members who had been harassed had not taken their cases to the police as the messages might not amount to threats. “If they take it to the police, they might not even know how to report the case,” he said, adding that none of the committee hopefuls had decided to drop out of the race as a result of the harassment. The Democratic Party held its 30-year anniversary banquet last Saturday.
Local media reported that the venue was visited by police officers during the event. The party axed its fundraising dinner last September after two restaurants pulled out last minute. Lo at the time said he believed the restaurant cancellations were not coincidental, and that there were people behind the scenes pressuring the businesses.
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