Photo taken on Aug. 21, 2019 shows the headquarters of the Hong Kong Police Force. (Photo: Xinhua)

Hong Kong police arrested six people on Tuesday on suspicion of violating the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance, which took effect on March 23. This is also the first arrest operation enforced since the law came into effect. 

The operation was executed across multiple districts in Hong Kong, including the Tai Lam Centre for Women, involving five women and one man, aged between 37 and 65, on suspicion of violating Section 24 of the ordinance for offenses in connection with seditious intention, according to a statement published on the website of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government. 

The police also searched the residences of five of the arrested individuals based on court warrants and seized a range of items related to the case, including electronic communication devices suspected to have been used for disseminating messages with seditious intention.

Investigations revealed that a woman, currently in custody, through the other five arrested individuals, had been anonymously posting seditious messages since April 2024 on social media, targeting a forthcoming sensitive date. 

These posts aimed to provoke hatred toward the central government, the HKSAR government, and the judicial department, and to incite netizens to organize or participate in illegal activities at a later time.

This operation was taken by the police under the ordinance. Crimes with a seditious intention are serious offenses and can carry a maximum sentence of seven years in prison, according to the statement.

Those with the intent to endanger national security should not mistakenly believe they can evade police investigation by acting anonymously online, the HKSAR government said. 

The public must recognize the facts, avoid being misled by false and distorted information, and refrain from being incited to participate in illegal activities or actions that endanger national security.

Local media reported that the woman currently in custody is reportedly a former vice chairperson of the anti-China organization Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, Tonyee Chow Hang-tung. 

She was earlier convicted of illegally inciting others to knowingly participate in an unauthorized assembly between May 29 and June 4, 2021, according to local media reports.