Prominent Macau pro-democracy determine Au Kam San, 68, has been arrested on costs of colluding with overseas forces to hazard nationwide safety, in keeping with a police assertion launched Thursday within the Chinese-ruled metropolis.
According to the assertion, the suspect surnamed Au allegedly maintained contact with an anti-China group overseas since 2022, supplying them with what authorities referred to as “false and seditious info” meant for abroad exhibitions and on-line platforms.
The police additional claimed Au tried to incite hatred towards Beijing, intervene with Macau’s 2024 management election, and provoke hostile actions from overseas nations in opposition to the area. Neither Au nor his spouse might be reached for fast remark.
Au Kam San has lengthy been often called one in all Macau’s main voices for democratic reform, co-founding a number of pro-democracy teams, together with the New Macau Association. A former schoolteacher, he usually criticized opaque governance and rising inequality in a metropolis whose booming on line casino business turned it into the world’s playing capital—surpassing even Las Vegas in gaming revenues.
Despite his activism, Macau’s pro-democracy motion has remained comparatively subdued, in contrast to Hong Kong, which noticed large protest actions in 2014 and 2019. In Macau, democratic voices have largely existed on the political fringes beneath tight management from Beijing for the reason that metropolis was handed over from Portuguese rule in 1999.
Au’s arrest comes amid growing political stress on dissent in China’s particular administrative areas. In neighboring Hong Kong, authorities proceed to make use of two nationwide safety legal guidelines to detain activists, shut down media retailers, and dissolve civil society organizations.
Macau, dwelling to round 680,000 residents, has additionally confronted high-profile corruption circumstances involving senior officers over time, together with Ao Man Long and Ho Chio Meng. Despite its wealth from playing, public criticism has centered on points like inequality, transparency, and governance.
