Last weekend Jazz wrote about the arrest of several pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong. The NY Times clarified that there were actually 15 arrests in all. Not only does the crackdown come as Hong Kong protesters are stuck in their homes, but also as the U.S. is dealing with the peak of its own coronavirus outbreak:

Lau Siu-kai, vice president of the Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macau Studies, a powerful Beijing advisory group, said that the arrests on Saturday represented an early step toward a broader crackdown by Beijing on the Hong Kong opposition.

The arrests reflect an assessment by Beijing that protests in Hong Kong over the past year pose such a threat to national security that it is worthwhile to defy American threats of retaliation if a crackdown takes place, he said.

“Now Beijing is calling the U.S.’s bluff and taking the initial steps against the Hong Kong opposition, and there will be more steps to shrink their space,” said Mr. Lau, who was also a senior Hong Kong government official in the years immediately after Britain’s return of the city to Chinese sovereignty.

Also this weekend, Taylor wrote about the way in which China’s government office in Hong Kong, which under law is not supposed to interfere in politics there, has suddenly decided to ignore those rules. In a follow-up story published today, the Times suggests the endgame here is Beijing’s control over the next elections in Hong Kong, which take place in September. Because of the months of protests, China is expecting pro-democracy politicians to win elections. However, they have ways of preventing that:

On Tuesday, the office in charge of Hong Kong affairs in Beijing issued three statements asserting the central government’s authority over the territory. It criticized opposition members including Joshua Wong, a prominent activist, and Jimmy Lai, the publisher of Apple Daily, a pro-democracy newspaper, who was also arrested on Saturday.

The office also accused Mr. Kwok, the lawmaker, of trying to push for Hong Kong’s independence and encouraging foreign interference by supporting U.S. legislation that authorized possible sanctions against Hong Kong officials.

The criticism of Mr. Kwok has raised fears that the authorities are laying the groundwork to bar him and others from running in the legislative elections. Several candidates were disqualified in 2016 after local officials determined they held pro-independence views. And six lawmakers who won seats were later removed for altering their oaths of office, after a rare intervention by Beijing.

“The worrying thing is I can see signs this time around that the government may make wider use of so-called disqualification powers to stop pro-democratic camp people from running,” said Eric Cheung, a law lecturer at the University of Hong Kong.

This is similar to what Nicolas Maduro has done in Venezuela, simply having pro-democracy politicians arrested on vague charges and then announcing they were disallowed from running in the next election.

There is another story circulating this week which involves attempts to cast a false light on pro-democracy protesters. A police sergeant was arrested after it became clerar he had asked people to bring homemade petrol bombs to the area outside the police station so police could find them.

The officer, 38, was arrested in Sau Mau Ping and will be suspended from duties. He is being held for questioning, with the case handled by the New Territories North regional crime unit.

A police spokesman confirmed an individual had been detained for perversion of justice over a criminal investigation.

Sources said the officer was allegedly involved in an incident last Monday night, when a 21-year-old man with two petrol bombs was arrested in Kwai Chung. The officer was suspected to have asked the man to show up with the items.

Why would police want to do this? Independent news site Apple Daily says the goal was to portray pro-democracy protesters in a bad light (as violent and dangerous) while simultaneously making the police look competent:

It is reported that a 38-year-old sergeant is suspected of planning a recent search for a petrol bomb outside the Kwai Chung Police Station. It is known that he recruited others through an intermediary The petrol bombs were placed outside the police station, and even the petrol bombs were snatched in order to make public opinion and blame the protesters, and then pretend to investigate and solve the case.

The pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong have a lot of powerful forces aligned against them and with the threat of the coronavirus still lingering they have no way to peacefully assert their opposition to what China is doing.