Joshua Wong Wong was a key student leader during pro-democracy protests in 2014 that paralysed parts of Hong Kong for 70 days in what came to be known as the “umbrella movement”. He became the face of Hong Kong’s democracy movement and was imprisoned for two months for his involvement in those protests. He was released from prison on June 17th, four days before the protests in Hong Kong in which demonstrators surrounded police headquarters. He was charged on Friday over his involvement.

Wong (22), is the co-founder of the political group Demosist. Netflix made a documentary about him titled Joshua: Teenager vs Superpower.

After his arrest on Friday, he was released.

Agnes Chow Chow is, like Joshua Wong, a former student leader of the umbrella movement in 2014. She belongs to the political organisation Demosisto, and was arrested on Monday morning on suspicion of “inciting others to participate in an unauthorised assembly” as well as “knowingly participating in an unauthorised assembly” during protests outside police headquarters on June 21st.

Chow (22), was blocked from running for political office in Hong Kong in 2018 because of her party’s pro-democracy manifesto. She renounced her British citizenship – a requirement to stand for election – and postponed her studies to run for office, but views neither as a sacrifice.

“Many people may see this as a sacrifice, but it’s not for me,” she said. “I’m committed to fighting for Hong Kong and it’s nothing compared to those who have gone to prison.”

She told the Guardian last year that she had grown up in an apolitical household where social issues were never mentioned. But when she was 15, she came across a Facebook post showing thousands of young people agitating for change – secondary school students just like her – and never looked back.

Chow joined demonstrations against government plans to introduce “moral and national education” in 2012 – criticised by opponents as communist brainwashing – and it was there she met Wong. She recently travelled to Tokyo, where she urged the Japanese government to help put pressure on the Hong Kong authorities to withdraw the controversial extradition bill. Speaking in Japanese at the Japan National Press Club during her visit in June, Chow called on Tokyo to “pay more attention to this dangerous bill”, warning that it was not only Hong Kong residents who would be affected but also overseas visitors. Such visitors could find themselves being extradited to mainland China, which she described as “a place without the rule of law, without protection of human rights and freedom”.

She was also released after her arrest on Friday.

Andy Chan Chan, the head of the Hong Kong National party, came to international attention in September last year when his party was banned by the city’s security bureau for calling for independence for Hong Kong from mainland China. The bureau said the party was a threat to national security and the ban marked the first case of its kind since Hong Kong returned to Chinese rule in 1997.

The ban forced Chan to withdraw from public appearances but not before he spoke at a widely attended event at the Hong Kong Foreign Correspondents’ Club. Several weeks later, the immigration department declined to extend the visa of the event moderator, Victor Mallet, a journalist with the Financial Times. – Guardian