Police detain a protester during a march marking the anniversary of the Hong Kong handover from Britain to China. Photos / AP
Police detain a protester during a march marking the anniversary of the Hong Kong handover from Britain to China. Photos / AP
Close to 200 Hong Kong protesters have been arrested during clashes with the police after thousands took to the streets of the Chinese-ruled city in defiance of a draconian new national security law which came into force yesterday.
The sweeping law introduces life sentences or long term jail terms for vaguely defined national security crimes linked to secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces, and appears to be tailored towards curbing the pro-democracy protests that have rocked the city since last June.
Beijing's swift and secretive enactment of the law, which has been strongly condemned by the UK for breaching a deal guaranteeing Hong Kong's freedoms until 2047, coincided with the 23rd anniversary of Britain handing the former colony back to China.
Britain announced today that it was extending residency rights for up to three million Hong Kongers eligible for the British National Overseas passport.
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab told MPs that amid widespread concerns about Beijing's tightening grip on Hong Kong, the UK was changing its immigration rules to give people a special route to citizenship.
Eligible individuals from Hong Kong currently can come to the UK for six months without a visa. Under the new policy, they will have the right to live and work in the country for five years. After that, they will be allowed to apply for settled status and then again for citizenship.
Hong Kongers who were born after the end of British rule in 1997 are not eligible, meaning that in effect, many of the city's young student activists who are most at risk of arrest under the new law cannot take advantage of the British offer.
An annual demonstration to mark the handover was banned for the first time this year, with police officers in full riot gear, armed with pepper and rubber bullet guns, stationed on the corners of the city's major streets to immediately disperse any gatherings.
The first arrest for an alleged national security crime was carried out late yesterday NZT, when the police detained a man with a Hong Kong independence flag, confirming that certain political views and symbols had become illegal overnight.
Protesters against the new national security law gesture with five fingers, signifying the "Five demands - not one less" on the anniversary of Hong Kong's handover.
The police added a new purple banner to their range of multi-coloured protest warning flags, specifically threatening arrest and prosecution under the new law for "displaying flags or banners/chanting slogans/or conducting yourselves with an intent such as succession or subversion."
The force also revealed that more than 180 people had been arrested within a couple of hours of the start of the protest, seven on suspicion of violating the national security law and others for unlawful assembly, obstructing police officers and possessing offensive weapons.
Tensions were high a day after China imposed the legislation without any scrutiny from the city's parliament, a historic move that has been decried as the start of a new authoritarian era to crush the finance hubs remaining liberties and autonomy.
As officers swiftly cracked down on the demonstration with water cannons firing bursts of liquid laced with a stinging pepper solution, protesters responded by burning barricades and blocking traffic. The police said an officer had been stabbed in the arm and severely injured while trying to make an arrest.
A protester carrying a flag calling for Hong Kong's independence is the first person to be arrested under the city's controversial new national security law, which makes secessionist, subversive, or terrorist activities illegal. https://t.co/ws1lFk6AWI
Hong Kong's protests have often spiralled into violence since mass rallies began last year in opposition to a controversial extradition law and morphed into a greater cry for democracy and universal suffrage.
The riot police have denied multiple accusations of using excessive force, while a fringe of more radical protesters have vandalised the public transport system and other businesses perceived to be pro-Beijing, and thrown Molotovs, all of which now risk severe new penalties.
Despite the growing risk of imprisonment or injury, many of the city's pro-democracy advocates have vowed to keep fighting for their rights.
Crowds spilling out into the streets chanted "resist until the end" and "Hong Kong independence," with one group ripping down a banner announcing the new law and stomping it into the ground.
A new security law in Hong Kong all but eliminates the civil rights that people in Hong Kong have exercised for years. But it also points the way to a more dangerous and divided world that will be increasingly defined by borders and nationality.https://t.co/TOKcPE0txy
"We shall never surrender. Now is not the time to give up," tweeted Joshua Wong, one of the city's most high-profile pro-democracy figures, alongside photos of protesters crowding into the downtown streets of Causeway Bay.
Protesters added their own voices. "I'm afraid the police will arrest me but I still need to come out today and do as much as possible. I feel we are truly ruled by China now. I have prepared to leave Hong Kong but I still want to stay here. Here is where I have family and friends, and I still don't have the courage to leave," said Eric, a 30-year-old designer.
"Even without the national security law, it seems to me that Hong Kong has been a dangerous place for you to protest. And particularly with its enactment, I'm certain that Hong Kong will have a grim future," said a 58-year-old retiree.
"But this doesn't mean that we should stop protesting because I don't want Hong Kong to become another Tibet and Xinjiang. I really love Hong Kong," he said.
The Hong Kong and Chinese governments have also remained unshaken in their resolve to impose the unprecedented law in the face of stiff international opposition and the threat of sanctions on officials and the loss of the city's special trade status.
"(China) promised 50 years of freedom to the Hong Kong people, and gave them only 23," US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said as he promised unspecified countermeasures.
But Beijing said foreign countries should keep quiet about the law and stop interfering in an internal affair, while Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam hailed the legislation as the "most important development" since the city's return to Beijing's rule.
"I have received many comments both in and outside of Hong Kong that the law may jeopardise 'one country, two systems'. This is absolutely not the truth but the other way around," Lam claimed in a press conference.
"We have urged the government to bring forward a much more comprehensive package of measures including targeted sanctions so there was economic consequences to China's actions in Hong Kong"
Zhao Lijian, China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesman Zhao Lijian pledged in a briefing in Beijing that "all anti-China activities in Hong Kong will be punished under related law."
The United Kingdom said that China's imposition of a security law on Hong Kong was a "clear and serious" violation of the Joint Declaration.
"We have very carefully now assessed the contents of this national security legislation since it was published last night," Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab told Reuters.
"It constitutes a clear violation of the autonomy of Hong Kong, and a direct threat to the freedoms of its people, and therefore I'm afraid to say it is a clear and serious violation of the Joint Declaration treaty between the United Kingdom and China."
UK summons Chinese ambassador over 'concern' on new Hong Kong security lawhttps://t.co/cbHPgaBAOZ
"The prime minister and the government are crystal clear that the United Kingdom will keep its word," Raab said. "We will live up to our responsibilities to the people of Hong Kong."
Britain's government estimates there are about 350,000 current holders of the British National Overseas passports, with a total of around 2.9 million people eligible for it. It says the extended residency rules will apply to all of them and their immediate dependents.
No exact date was given for the new rule's implementation, and Raab said further details will be announced later.
