HONG KONG COURT REJECTS MASK BAN
Thousands of protesters have staged unsanctioned flashmob rallies across the strife-torn city - some vandalising subway stations and shops
AHong Kong court rejected on Sunday a challenge to an emergency law criminalising protesters wearing face masks as activists hit the streets again in defiance of the ban despite half the city’s subway stations remaining closed. Thousands of protesters have staged unsanctioned flashmob rallies across the strife-torn city - some vandalising subway stations and shops - after Hong Kong’s leader outlawed face coverings at protests, invoking colonial-era emergency powers not used for half a century.
Pro-democracy lawmakers went to the High Court on Sunday seeking an emergency injunction against the ban, arguing the emergency powers bypassed the legislature and contravened the city’s mini-constitution.
But a senior judge dismissed their injunction demand.
As the ruling was being delivered, two unsanctioned rallies were kicking off on both sides of Victoria Harbour, with thousands of masked protesters gathering in torrential downpours. After four months of huge and increasingly violent protests, the city’s unelected pro-Beijing leader Carrie Lam invoked a sweeping colonial-era law on Friday allowing her to make “any regulations whatsoever” during a time of public danger.
She used it to ban masks - which protesters have used to hide their identity or protect them from tear gas - and warned she would use the powers to make new regulations if the unrest did not abate. The move was welcomed by government supporters and Beijing. But opponents and protesters saw it as the start of a slippery slope tipping the international finance hub into authoritarianism.