Less than 24 hours after the entry into force of the national security law imposed by Beijing on Hong Kong, the police made the first arrests under it.
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“Seven people have been arrested for alleged violations of the national security law,” said the police.
Security forces arrested a total of 180 people on Wednesday as thousands of Hong Kongers gathered to mark the 23rd anniversary of the handover of the former 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.
Since the law came into force on Tuesday evening, support for the independence of Hong, Taiwain, Tibet and the Xinjiang region has become illegal.
“Defending Hong Kong’s independence is against the law,” Hong Kong’s Minister of Security John John told reporters.
The Hong Kong opposition fears that the text will strike a fatal blow to the freedoms and autonomy enjoyed by the territory since its handover on July 1, 1997 by the United Kingdom.
On Wednesday morning, during the traditional flag raising ceremony marking this anniversary, the chief of the Hong Kong executive loyal to Beijing, Carrie Lam, welcomed this law which constitutes “the most important event in relations between the central government and Hong Kong since the handover ”.
Promulgated by Chinese President Xi Jinping, it makes it possible to punish four types of crimes against the security of the state: subversion, separatism, terrorism and collusion with outside forces.
The law provides that the Chinese justice system has jurisdiction over certain offenses and reserves life imprisonment for the most serious crimes against national security.
“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.
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”.
Canada warned its Hong Kong nationals on Wednesday of the risk of “arbitrary detention” and extradition to mainland China.
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 “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.
“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 transform into a # secret police state.”
Consequently, 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 more than twenty years, Hong Kong has enjoyed broad autonomy, in accordance with the “One country, two systems” principle, its inhabitants enjoying freedom of expression, freedom of the press and justice. independent.
Western governments say they are worried about the city’s international status, one of the world’s major financial centers.
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