Joshua Wong Arrested in Civic Square: Hong Kong‘s Scholarism Student Group Leader

17-year old Joshua Wong, leader of the Scholarism movement, has been arrested in Hong Kong. Yvonne Leung Lai-kwok, head of the Hong Kong University Student’s Union confirmed that Wong and four other students were arrested and taken by police for alleged acts of violence against police officers.

The police arrested the student organizer in Hong Kong‘s Civic Square, a space sealed off from the protesters for months in the wake of protests that have rocked the special administrative area of the People’s Republic of China.

When becoming part of China in 1997, it was agreed that Hong Kong and Beijing would coexist as “one country, two systems,” however, these promises have never materialized and Beijing‘s recent promise to allow Hong Kong voters to choose their executive from a pre-approved list of candidates in 2017 has led to widespread dismay among democratic activists. Joshua Wong has been among the student movement’s leadership since 2011 when he joined to protest the Communist Party of China‘s attempt at introducing “National and Moral Education” in Hong Kong‘s schools.

The movement Scholarism was founded and through protests and hunger strikes was able to defeat the Hong Kong administration’s attempt at introducing this highly controversial curriculum.

[Business InsiderREPORT: Hong Kong’s 17-Year-Old ‘Extremist’ Student Leader Arrested During Massive Democracy Protest]

Scholarism Group Speech in Hong Kong at an Anti-National Education Protest on July 29 2012