Hong Kong invoked emergency powers for the first time in more than half a century to ban face masks for protesters after months of unrest, prompting demonstrators to occupy downtown streets.
Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam (林鄭月娥) yesterday said the move was necessary to stem increased violence in recent weeks, including attacks by protesters using petrol bombs, corrosive liquids and other weapons.
The prohibition on face masks would deter violence and help police to enforce the law, she said, adding that the measure did not mean Hong Kong was under a state of emergency.
Photo: Bloomberg
As Lam spoke, protesters began gathering in Hong Kong’s Central district and occupying major boulevards.
Shops closed early in anticipation that demonstrations would grow violent, similar to clashes between police and protesters in the past few weeks.
“The violence is destroying Hong Kong,” Lam told reporters, flanked by 16 members of her cabinet. “We must save the present Hong Kong and the future Hong Kong.”
Lam called the situation “fluid” and said the government might consider additional measures if the situation worsened.
“I don’t see how you could relate this to a step closer to authoritarianism,” Lam said in response to a question. “This is a responsible act to deal with an extremely difficult situation, which I hope the world has sympathy.”
The face mask has become a symbol of resistance among protesters who fear retribution if they are identified: China has applied pressure to businesses such as Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd (國泰航空) to fire employees who participate in demonstrations.
The Civil Human Rights Front, which has organized some of the largest protests in the past few months, called the mask ban “dictatorship rule” and said “unspeakable consequences will follow.”
“This is like opening a Pandora’s box — who knows what will come next after this ban?” said one man protesting in central Hong Kong, who only gave his surname Lau. “But the government should know that if it insists, and doesn’t listen to the people, we won’t give up and will keep the government accountable. We will continue our fight.”
The emergency law, first passed by the British government nearly a century ago to quell a seamen’s strike in Hong Kong’s harbor, was last used by the colonial administration to put down riots in 1967.
Denounced by protest leaders, it could give the government greater leeway to arrest citizens, censor publications, shut off communications networks and search premises without warrants, among other measures.
“Put simply, if there’s no escalation of violence, we don’t need to come out with any new measures, but if violence escalates, we need to maintain law and order in Hong Kong, we need to make sure that people can conduct their lives as usual,” Lam said.
FORCED LABOR: Customs officials have seized a 11.8 tonne shipment of products made from human hair on suspicion they were produced by people facing human rights abuses Federal authorities in New York City on Wednesday seized a shipment of weaves and other beauty accessories suspected to be made out of human hair taken from people locked inside a Chinese internment camp. US Customs and Border Protection (CPB) officials said that 11.8 tonnes of hair products worth an estimated US$800,000 were in the shipment. “The production of these goods constitutes a very serious human rights violation, and the detention order is intended to send a clear and direct message to all entities seeking to do business with the United States that illicit and inhumane practices will not be tolerated in
IRRESPONSIBLE ATTITUDES? Some experts say the NHI system does not do enough to educate the public, or pay doctors to talk to patients, about healthy lifestyles While the life expectancy of Taiwanese newborns in 2018 reached 80.69 years, the number of years people spent in poor health hit a record high at 8.41 years, Ministry of Health and Welfare statistics showed on Saturday. Healthy life expectancy is calculated by a person’s life expectancy minus the time they spend in ill health, such as the loss of mobility, disabilities and chronic disease, based on medical records and calculations about the years they live with disabilities. The number of years that Taiwanese spend in poor health is increasing slowly, but steadily, rising by 0.46 years, or five-and-a-half months, between 2012
UPTICK IN NUMBERS: The Taipei deputy mayor said the city has services to assist new immigrants, but has established an office specifically to help those from Hong Kong The Taiwan-Hong Kong Services and Exchanges Office today officially opens, where it is to provide humanitarian assistance to Hong Kongers, after Beijing yesterday passed a controversial national security law for the territory. President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) expressed dismay over China’s passage of the law, saying that Beijing has broken its pledge to allow Hong Kong to maintain a high degree of autonomy for at least 50 years following its handover from the UK. “I feel extremely disappointed [about the law’s passage], which means China did not keep its promise to Hong Kong,” Tsai said in Taipei. Beijing’s “broken promise” also
‘BASELESS ACCUSATIONS’: Ker Chien-ming said it was not possible to drop Chen Chu’s nomination, while KMT lawmakers accused their DPP rivals of ‘homicidal behavior’ The Legislative Yuan is to vote on President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) nominations for the Control Yuan on July 17 after Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators regained access to the legislative chamber yesterday after it was occupied by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers for about 19 hours. The Legislative Yuan had been scheduled to meet yesterday morning to discuss its planned extraordinary session, but more than 20 KMT lawmakers on Sunday afternoon broke into the main chamber and occupied the legislative speaker’s podium to protest Tsai’s nomination of former Presidential Office secretary-general Chen Chu (陳菊) to be Control Yuan president. The KMT caucus
RSS