Police arrest dozens of protesters

The new Chinese security law for Hong Kong threatens activists at least ten years in prison. Dozens of people have been arrested in protests against the restrictions.

In Hong Kong, the police are relentless after the new security law comes into force. The authorities have arrested more than 30 people in recent protests. The first was arrested for holding an independence flag, the Hong Kong police said on Twitter on Wednesday. The arrested man was picked up with the flag in the popular shopping area of ​​Causeway Bay. “This is the first arrest since the law came into force,” the police wrote on Twitter.

Since then, dozens of other people have been arrested and police reported more than 30 arrests on Wednesday afternoon (local time). Hong Kong media reported that the reasons given were violations of the new law, the ban on assembly or even disability for the police.

After the controversial law came into force, many people went on the streets to protest despite the ban on demonstrations. Wednesday is also the 23rd anniversary of the return of the British Crown Colony to China on July 1, 1997.

At least ten years in prison

The government in Beijing passed a controversial security law for the Special Administrative Region on Tuesday. Hong Kong entered into force the same day. It allows the Chinese authorities to crack down on all activities that they consider to threaten national security. Those who break the law can expect to be imprisoned for at least ten years, but could also end up in prison for life. The leading head of the Hong Kong democracy movement, Joshua Wong, fears to become a main target of Chinese measures.

Critics accuse the Chinese leadership of abolishing the “one country, two systems” principle and of suppressing democratic civil rights in Hong Kong.

The law is the strongest cut in Hong Kong’s semi-autonomous status to date: when it was handed over to China in 1997, the former British crown colony was granted special rights for 50 years, including freedom of expression and assembly.

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