Professors Benny Tai Yiu-ting and Chan Kin-man and the Rev. Chu Yiu-ming left the police station after being warned by authorities over protests that have blocked streets in the Asian financial centre for more than two months. The three called on Tuesday for an end to street demonstrations to prevent further violence and to take the campaign for democratic reforms to a new stage.
Police said in a statement that those who surrendered for the offense of taking part in an unauthorised assembly “were explicitly told ... that illegal occupation of public places was an unlawful act and they should stop such act immediately.” Police said they will conduct follow-up investigations.
“The concept is to end the civil disobedience, we need to take the responsibility,” said Hong Kong Cardinal Joseph Zen, who accompanied the three democracy leaders.
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“Now the situation [in the protest site] is very dangerous, so I hope protesters can end the occupation movement as soon as possible,” said Tai, a law professor at the Hong Kong University.
Dozens of supporters also turned themselves in. They were met by a crowd of jeering opponents calling for them to be jailed. One group was chanting slogans, “You deserved it!”
Prof. Tai said police took down their details and then gave them a form with a number of offenses listed and asked them to indicate which ones they should be arrested for. He said he advised supporters to choose participating in an unauthorised assembly.
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Prof. Tai and the two colleagues had said earlier their surrender was to show they were ready to respect the rule of law, but they continue to oppose the government. “To surrender is not to fail, it is a silent denunciation of a heartless government,” they said.
The trio founded Occupy Central with Love and Peace, which aimed to shut down streets in the financial hub to press for free elections in the semi-autonomous Chinese city. They wanted the government to scrap its requirement that candidates in inaugural 2017 elections for Hong Kong’s leader be approved by a panel chosen by Beijing.