HONG KONG, May 27 — Hong Kong police ramped up security around the city’s legislature today ahead of a debate over a law that would ban insulting China’s national anthem, the latest measure activists say is chipping away at free speech in the finance hub. The debate comes days after China...
Riot police officers stand guard outside Central Government Complex as a second reading of a controversial national anthem law takes place in Hong Kong, China May 27, 2020. — Reuters pic
That move has prompted Washington to warn that Hong Kong might lose its status as a global financial centre if the city’s freedoms and vaunted judicial independence are swept aside by Beijing. A police source told AFP that “thousands” of officers had been placed on standby ready to respond to any attempts to block traffic outside the legislature or breach the building.
But for months they have used filibustering within a legislative committee to stop the bill reaching the floor for a vote. The protests have been fuelled by years of rising fears that Beijing is prematurely eroding Hong Kong’s cherished freedoms.Protesters say their rallies are the only way to voice opposition in a city without fully free elections.
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