Hong Kong Police Arrest Newspaper Publisher
BERMAN: All right, breaking overnight, major news out of Hong Kong. Police have arrested nine people, including the publisher of a pro- democracy newspaper, a man that regularly criticizes Hong Kong's government and Chinese leadership. All of the individuals now charged with violating the territory's new national security law. CNN's senior international correspondent Ivan Watson is live in Hong Kong with the latest. As clear of an example as we have had yet of China exerting really authoritarian influence in Hong Kong.</s>IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean, this was an unmistakable show of force, John, where you had more than 100 police officers raiding the newsroom of this Hong Kong Newspaper, "Apple Daily," which happens to be owned by one of the Chinese Communist Party's fiercest critics here in Hong Kong, Jimmy Li, this kind of tycoon who is just absolutely not ashamed of coming out and criticizing both the Communist Party and the leadership that's allied with it here in Hong Kong. The police say they arrested him and at least eight other people, confiscated dozens of boxes of information, on the grounds of suspicion of collusion with a foreign country, which could endanger national security, conspiracy to defraud, and other offenses. Now, this is all coming less than a month and a half after Beijing rammed through a controversial national security law on Hong Kong, which gives the Chinese authorities direct power to investigate, search, detain, prosecute people for suspected crimes, like terrorism, subversion, sedition. That was viewed as a real turning point but -- because Hong Kong's supposed to remain largely autonomous from mainland China for a period of about 50 years, up until the year 2047. The speed of the crackdown here, I think, has really got people surprised because the authorities have barred at least 12 opposition activists from running for elections that were scheduled in Hong Kong next month. The authorities have now postponed those legislative elections for at least a year on the pretext grounds of the coronavirus pandemic, for health and safety reasons, they say. A growing number of opposition politicians and activists are facing an array of different charges and prosecution. In the end, you've got much less tolerance now for opposition to the authorities, for freedom of assembly, for now we see freedom of press. That all adds up to an authoritarian crackdown. I've seen versions of this in other countries. The speed here is really remarkable, especially in a city where those freedoms had been protected up until really a matter of months, if not weeks ago. John.</s>BERMAN: And the audacity of arresting Jimmy Li in a way that everyone can see. He is so well known in Hong Kong and well known internationally. It's a statement not just there, but to the entire world. We'll wait to see how the U.S. responds. Ivan Watson in Hong Kong, thank you very much. Please keep us posted throughout the morning. Up next, CNN will speak exclusively with Health Secretary Alex Azar about the U.S. pandemic response.