The head of Hong Kong’s journalist union Ronson Chan, on Monday, was charged with obstructing police on Monday. Chan was to leave Hong Kong to begin a fellowship at Oxford University in ten days. Chan was arrested on September 7 when he was covering a residents’ meeting at a public housing estate. Chan got into a dispute with two officers who asked to see his identification. Chan is the head of the Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA)
The police told CNA that Chan refused to provide his ID card and behaved in an "uncooperative" way despite multiple warnings. The offence of obstructing police carries up to two years in prison. Chan will appear in court on Thursday.
Chan told the Guardian that he acted within his rights to demand of the officers that they show their warrant cards. Since the National Security Law has been passed in Hong Kong on June 2020, city officials have been using the same to detain pro-democracy activists for dissent over the protests that took place in 2019.
Chan accused the police officials of making threatening statements as he was being taken to the police station like, “let's see when you will die". "I told them I do not understand the charge ... I did not obstruct any police officers," he told CNA. Western governments have condemned the national security law, and called it a tool of repression in Hong Kong.
