A person stands subsequent to a flag studying “Hong Kong Independence” as individuals protest new legislation
Hong Kong, China:
Hong Kong police made the primary arrest beneath Beijing’s new nationwide safety legislation as town greeted the anniversary of its handover to China with protests banned and its cherished freedoms wanting more and more fragile.
The commemorations got here a day after China imposed a sweeping safety legislation on town, a historic transfer decried by many Western governments as an unprecedented assault on the finance hub’s liberties and autonomy.
Police mentioned a person with a Hong Kong independence flag was the primary to be arrested beneath the brand new legislation, confirming that sure political opinions and symbols had change into unlawful in a single day.
Opprobrium poured in from critics and western governments — led by america — over fears the legislation will usher in a brand new period of mainland-style political repression.
Underneath a deal forward of the 1997 handover from Britain, authoritarian China assured Hong Kong civil liberties in addition to judicial and legislative autonomy till 2047 in a deal referred to as “One Nation, Two Programs”.
“(China) promised 50 years of freedom to the Hong Kong individuals, and gave them solely 23,” US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo mentioned as he promised unspecified countermeasures.
However Beijing mentioned international international locations ought to hold quiet in regards to the legislation, whereas Hong Kong chief Carrie Lam hailed the laws because the “most necessary improvement” because the metropolis’s return to Beijing’s rule.
Activists known as on individuals to defy a ban on protests and march on Hong Kong island on Wednesday afternoon.
However it was unclear what number of could be prepared to face the dangers posed by the brand new legislation and more and more aggressive police ways in the direction of even peaceable rallies in current months.
Gatherings of greater than 50 persons are banned beneath anti-coronavirus legal guidelines despite the fact that native transmissions have ended.
Riot police shortly used pepper spray and made arrests when a number of hundred individuals gathered within the district of Causeway Bay on Wednesday afternoon.
– Floats and helicopters –
Throughout a morning anniversary ceremony, helicopters flew throughout Victoria Harbour carrying a big Chinese language flag and a smaller Hong Kong pennant, whereas a barge appeared with a banner studying “Welcome the Enacting of the Nationwide Safety Regulation” in big Chinese language characters.
Small teams of Beijing supporters waved Chinese language flags in a number of native neighbourhoods, untroubled by police.
The July 1 anniversary has lengthy been a polarising day within the metropolis.
Beijing loyalists rejoice Hong Kong’s return to the Chinese language motherland after a century and a half of what they think about humiliating colonial rule by Britain.
Democracy advocates have used the event to carry giant rallies as fashionable anger in the direction of Beijing swells — though this yr’s occasion was banned for the primary time in 17 years.
Throughout enormous pro-democracy demonstrations final yr, town’s legislature was besieged and trashed by protesters.
– Chinese language jurisdiction and life sentences –
The “One Nation, Two Programs” components initially helped cement the Hong Kong’s standing as a world-class enterprise hub, bolstered by an unbiased judiciary and political freedoms unseen on the mainland.
However critics have lengthy accused Beijing of chipping away at that standing and describe the brand new safety legislation as probably the most brazen transfer but.
It was handed in simply six weeks, skipping Hong Kong’s fractious legislature, and the exact wording was saved secret till it got here into impact late Tuesday.
It outlaws subversion, secession, terrorism and colluding with international forces to undermine nationwide safety, with sentences of as much as life in jail.
It additionally topples the authorized firewall that has existed between town’s judiciary and the mainland’s party-controlled courts.
China could have jurisdiction over “critical” instances and its safety businesses may also be capable to function publicly within the metropolis for the primary time.
One other provision additionally claims common jurisdiction for nationwide safety crimes dedicated past Hong Kong or China.
Greater than two dozen international locations — together with Britain, France, Germany and Japan — urged Beijing to rethink the legislation, saying in an announcement to the UN Human Rights Council that it undermines town’s freedoms.
Canada, in the meantime, up to date a journey advisory on Wednesday for residents in Hong Kong warning that they confronted an elevated danger of arbitrary detention and even extradition to China.
In Taiwan, authorities there opened a brand new workplace to take care of Hong Kongers searching for refuge.
Beijing says the legislation will restore stability after a yr of pro-democracy protests and won’t finish Hong Kong’s freedoms.
However critics have little religion in these assurances given how comparable nationwide safety legal guidelines are routinely used on the mainland to crush dissent.
(Aside from the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV workers and is printed from a syndicated feed.)
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