Hundreds of people protest in Hong Kong on Sunday against the postponement of the elections and the new security law. Police deployed pepper spray bullets and detained 90 people, including several well-known activists South China Morning Post.
Hong Kong chief executive Carrie Lam postponed Sunday, September 6, elections for a year due to a spike in corona infections last July. The delay is a great disappointment to the pro-democracy opposition, which hoped for a historic majority in Hong Kong’s council.
It would have been the first elections since China’s controversial security law was instituted in June. The law criminalizes actions Beijing sees as subversive, terrorist or separatist.
At small demonstrations throughout the city, protesters on Sunday shouted the popular slogan “liberated Hong Kong”, which is punishable under the new security law.
Activists have been arrested for participating in “illegal gatherings,” police said in a statement.
Fewer protests due to security law and corona
In Hong Kong there have been fewer and fewer protests over the past year due to security law and corona regulations, which limit the scope of gatherings. No more than two people may come together.
As of January, about 4,800 corona cases have been reported in Hong Kong, far fewer than in other major cities worldwide. The number of new infections has been decreasing since July.
In Sunday’s protests, locally known activists Leung Kwok-hung, Rapheal Wong Ho-ming and Figo Chan Ho-wun were arrested after hanging a banner outside the Eaton Hotel in Jordan criticizing the government, the South China Morning Post.
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