China says its courts trump Hong Kong’s on face mask ruling

China’s top legislature insisted on Tuesday Hong Kong courts had no power to rule on the constitutionality of legislation under the city’s Basic Law, as it condemned a decision by the high court to overturn a ban on face masks worn by pro-democracy protesters. The statement came a day after the high court ruled that the face mask ban - introduced through colonial-era emergency laws - was unconstitutional. The statement could further fan the flames in Hong Kong after months of violent protests over concerns that Beijing is eating away at the city’s autonomy. “Whether the laws of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region comply with the Basic Law of Hong Kong can only be judged and decided by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress,” Yan Tanwei, a spokesman for the Legislative Affairs Commission of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, said in a statement. “No other authority has the right to make judgments and decisions,” it added. Jian also indicated that the legislature might take some form of action. “We are considering the relevant opinions and suggestions put forward by some NPC deputies,” he said, without elaborating. Protests started in June with rallies that brought hundreds of thousands of people onto the streets in a largely peaceful call for the withdrawal of a now-shelved China extradition bill. They have since evolved into a series of demands for greater democracy and freedoms as well as an independent inquiry into alleged police brutality. Protesters worry China is encroaching on the freedoms given to Hong Kong when the United Kingdom returned the territory to China under what was known as “one country, two systems” in 1997. Speaking from Beijing, Al Jazeera’s Andrew Thomas said the statement from the legislature was rare and a further indication of how seriously China viewed the situation in the city.“There is an irony here,” he said. “Beijing is saying only it has the power to interpret the constitution not the (Hong Kong) courts. They are proving what the protesters have been saying ever since they first came out onto the streets - that is that the whole idea of ‘one country, two systems” is essentially a sham and that the power rests solely with Beijing.” China has repeatedly warned that it would not allow the city to spiral into total chaos, heightening concerns that Beijing might deploy troops or other security forces to quell the unrest. “The Hong Kong government is trying very hard to put the situation under control,” China’s ambassador to Britain, Liu Xiaoming, said on Monday. “But if the situation becomes uncontrollable, the central government would certainly not sit on our hands and watch. We have enough resolution and power to end the unrest.” China has continued to back Chief Executive Carrie Lam and the city’s police force, which has faced off with protesters in increasingly violent clashes. This week police laid siege at a university campus where protesters, some armed with bows and homemade catapults to fire bricks, are holed up. Dozens escaped the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) late on Monday by abseiling from a bridge to waiting motorbikes. About 100 people remain inside, according to police.......