Tag: Hong Kong

Hong Kong riot police have made arrests and fired pepper pellets on Wednesday to disperse protesters in the city, as new national security laws proposed and national anthem bill by Beijing revived anti-government demonstrations.At around 1pm, some protesters in Central occupied parts of Pedder Street, disrupting traffic in the area. This prompted the police to fire pepper pellets to disperse the crowd. Over in Causeway Bay, about 100 people were stopped and searched.Police were also deployed to Mong Kok and Tsim Sha Tsui, following calls for people to gather there to protest. Heavy police presence and searches in the morning had dented protesters' initial plans to block roads and disrupt traffic.Some drivers had tried to disrupt the traffic at the cross-harbour tunnel at about 8.30am by dr...

Adding more to Hong Kong’s worries, Beijing's national security legislation for the city is set to block its foreign judges from handling national security trials, which would exacerbate concerns about the city's judicial independence, people familiar with the matter said.Having lost patience with Hong Kong's failure to adopt national security legislation on its own, China announced on Thursday that it would directly enact laws to tackle secession, subversion, terrorism and foreign interference in the city.The legislation, which remains subject to change, would also see both central and city government security agencies set up in Hong Kong.The Hong Kong government has said the legislation would not affect its judicial independence.Beijing's push for the legislation follows months of anti-g