Anthem bill sparks new clashes in Hong Kong legislature
HONG KONG, China (AFP) — Clashes broke out in Hong Kong’s legislature for the second time this month on Monday as the city’s prodemocracy camp tried to scupper a controversial law that bans insulting China’s national anthem.
Fighting erupted in the House Committee, a body that helps scrutinize bills, with protesting pro-democracy lawmakers dragged from the chamber by security guards and scuffles between rival camps flared up on the chamber floor.
The committee has been without a leader since October, meaning no bills have made it to the legislature for a vote, including one that criminalizes ridiculing or altering the national anthem.
Pro-democracy lawmakers have used filibustering and procedural delays to stop voting for a new chair. But in recent weeks pro-Beijing politicians have moved to break the stalemate.
On Monday, the pro-government camp installed its own stand-in to head the committee armed with external legal opinion saying they had the power to end the deadlock.
But the pro-democracy camp says the moves are illegal, citing the legal opinion of the legislature’s own lawyers.
During Monday’s scuffles, one pro-democracy lawmaker threw torn up pages of the legislature’s rule book at his opponents. Others were wrestled out the chamber by suited security guards in face masks and leather gloves.
The chaotic scenes are the latest expression of an entrenched political crisis engulfing Hong Kong.
Under a deal agreed with Britain before the city’s return to China, Hong Kong has a partially elected legislature and certain freedoms that are unseen on the authoritarian mainland until 2047.