Hong Kong court suspends protests ban on masks
A HONG Kong court has suspended its decision to dismiss a government ban on wearing face masks at protests, allowing police to enforce the decree for another week around keenly contested local elections.
The court had ruled on Monday that the ban, imposed in October under rarely used emergency powers to prevent anti-government protesters from hiding their identity, infringed on fundamental rights more than was reasonably necessary.
The government had appealed for a freeze on the ruling while it appeals to higher courts.
The High Court agreed on Friday to grant a one-week suspension in view of the “highly exceptional circumstances that Hong Kong is currently facing”, local broadcaster RTHK reported.
Many Hong Kong protesters have defied the ban, and during lunchtime rallies on Friday some chanted: “We have the right to wear masks.”
The city’s new police commissioner, Tang Ping-keung, told reporters officers would be out in force at polling stations on Sunday to respond to any outbreak of violence “without hesitation”.
Meanwhile six masked protesters surrendered before dawn on Friday at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, which was taken over by demonstrators last week.
The group emerged from a campus entrance and held hands as they walked towards a checkpoint. Five wore the black clothing favoured by the protest movement.
Most of the protesters who took over the campus have now left, but an unknown number have remained inside.
US President Donald Trump has claimed he is the reason China has not taken steps to crush pro-democracy protests.
He said he asked his “friend” Chinese President Xi Jinping not to send in the military.
Speaking on Fox & Friends in a telephone interview on Friday, Mr Trump said he told Mr Xi that efforts to quash the protests would complicate negotiations for a US-China trade deal.