Mysterious Bags of Cash Trigger Major Hong Kong Protest Arrests
- Thursday arrests threaten to curb funds as legal costs mount
- Bloomberg found $33 million raised from protest donations
A march on Dec. 8. Demonstrators face ever-mounting legal bills, with more than 6,000 people arrested since June.
Photographer: Kyle Lam/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Glancing at bags of cash stuffed to the brim earlier this month, Gary Fan simply wanted someone to remove them from an office in Hong Kong used by his political party.
The former pro-democracy lawmaker had collected HK$2.7 million ($345,000) during an anti-government protest the day before, and was waiting for someone to pick it up from a mysterious group known as Spark Alliance that helps bail protesters out of jail. The next day, a person whom he knew and trusted came to collect the cash, even though Fan says he doesn’t know who exactly is behind the group or where the money ends up.