Hong Kong police fire tear gas at largest protest since shutdown

POLICE in Hong Kong fired tear gas yesterday as thousands of protesters chanted pro-independence slogans and defied social distancing rules to demonstrate against new security legislation.

Protesters gathered in the Causeway Bay shopping district in the biggest demonstration since the virus shutdown began. After 30 minutes, people chanting “Hong Kong independence is the only way out” moved off the pavement on to the road, and police fired tear gas and deployed water cannons.

Police accused protesters of starting fires and throwing bottles from above, and said they had responded with “minimum force, including tear gas”.

At least 120 people were arrested, mostly for “unlawful assembly”. It came after the annual congress of China’s rubber-stamp parliament on Friday introduced a draft bill to strengthen “enforcement mechanisms” to “safeguard national security” in Hong Kong.

The proposed law would “guard against, stop and punish any separatism, subversion of the national regime, terrorist group activities and such behaviours that seriously harm national security”. Zhang Yesui, a spokesman for the congress, said the security law was “highly necessary”. But it has angered many people in Hong Kong.

“The proposed national security law has sent a clear sign that Beijing is punishing us for what we did last year,” said a demonstrator named Law, 26.

“The concept of independence wasn’t widely accepted before, but the increasing Beijing suppression has helped to spread it like wildfire in Hong Kong,” they added.

The UK, Canada and Australia warned on Friday that “making such a law on Hong Kong’s behalf without the direct participation of its people, legislature or judiciary would clearly undermine the principle of one country, two systems”.

Mike Pompeo, the US secretary of state, has urged China to reconsider what he called a “disastrous proposal”, saying it would “be a death knell for the high degree of autonomy Beijing promised for Hong Kong”.

Wang Yi, China’s foreign minister, said yesterday that Hong Kong’s affairs belonged to “internal affairs of China”.

Liz, another demonstrator, said: “The national security law is the end of Hong Kong. This is probably the last time for us to protest.”