Less than 24 hours after the entry into force of the security law imposed by Beijing on Hong Kong, the police carried out the first arrests, condemned by many Western countries, which makes the Chinese justice competent for the most serious crimes .
Promulgated on Tuesday by Chinese President Xi Jinping, this legislation makes the Hong Kong opposition fear an unprecedented decline in freedoms since the United Kingdom’s handover of the land to China in 1997.
Law enforcement officials arrested a total of more than 300 people on Wednesday, nine of them for alleged violations of national security law, while thousands of Hong Kongers gathered to mark the 23rd anniversary of the handover of the ex – British colony to China.
The rally was banned a few days ago by the authorities, for the first time in 17 years. The police used water cannons, pepper spray and tear gas to disperse them.
Many of them chanted slogans in favor of the independence of the territory.
“What this authoritarian regime wants to do is terrorize the people and prevent them from leaving,” Chris To, a 49-year-old protester, told AFP.
Police say an officer was stabbed in the shoulder while trying to make an arrest.
‘Most important event’
Since the law came into force on Tuesday evening, support for the independence of Hong Kong, Taiwan, Tibet and the Xinjiang region has become illegal.
The Hong Kong opposition fears that the text will strike a fatal blow to the freedoms and autonomy that the territory enjoyed since its handover.
Wednesday morning, during the traditional raising of the flag which marks this anniversary, the chief of the Hong Kong executive loyal to Beijing, Carrie Lam, welcomed this law which she considers to be ‘the most important event in relations between the central government and Hong Kong since the handover ‘.
It makes it possible to punish four types of crimes against the security of the State: subversion, separatism, terrorism and collusion with outside forces.
In some cases, the law provides that the Chinese justice system has jurisdiction and reserves sentences ranging from 10 years’ imprisonment to life imprisonment for the perpetrators of the most serious crimes.
“The enactment of this law aims to combat the very few criminals who seriously endanger national security, not the entire opposition,” the deputy director of the Hong Kong Affairs Bureau said on Wednesday. Macau of the communist regime, Zhang Xiaoming.
Convictions
The day before, in the wake of the adoption of this law, the Chinese government was more threatening, saying that ‘for members of the small minority who threaten national security, this law will be a sword hanging over their heads ‘.
Many Western countries, including 27 members of the UN Human Rights Council, have condemned the text, fearing that it will lead to the repression of all political opposition.
For its part, the United States has threatened China with reprisals, promising not to ‘sit idly by’.
British citizenship facilitated
On Wednesday, the United Kingdom denounced a ‘manifest violation of the autonomy of Hong Kong. As a result, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced that he will eventually facilitate access to British citizenship for holders of a special passport to which nearly three million residents of the former British colony are eligible.
For its part, Taiwan has announced the opening of an office intended to welcome the inhabitants of Hong Kong wishing to settle on the island.
Zhang said states that threaten Chinese officials with sanctions have a “bandit logic.” Comments aimed at the United States.
The law came into force just over a year after the start of monster protests in the former British colony against the influence of the central government. Scalded by these events, China will have imposed in just a few weeks this law which bypasses the local legislative council.
For Beijing, it is a question of ensuring stability, of putting an end to the vandalism which enamelled the demonstrations of 2019 in this territory of 7.5 million inhabitants, as well as to repress the current militant for independence.
End of Hong Kong known
“This marks the end of Hong Kong as the world knew it,” said Joshua Wong, one of the figures in the democracy movement, on Twitter. ‘The city will turn into a #decreetpolicestate.’
Consequence: the Demosisto party, which he founded with other activists in 2014, announced its dissolution. This training called in particular for self-determination and could therefore potentially fall under the scope of the new law.
For over twenty years, Hong Kong has enjoyed a large degree of autonomy. Under the principle of ‘One country, two systems’, its inhabitants benefit from freedom of expression, freedom of the press and independent justice.
/ ATS
– .
