Activists call for Hong Kong to rise up against new security laws
Hong Kong activists called on Friday (May 22) for people to rise up against Beijing's plans to impose national security legislation in the city.
The security presence was high on Hong Kong's streets Friday morning, as locals waited for more details about the controversial law.
According to a draft seen by Reuters, the proposed new legislation will tackle secession, subversion of state powers, terrorism and foreign interference.
The mood was tense in Hong Kong's central financial district, with Hong Kong stocks selling off as China's parliament sat on Friday to discuss the new law.
30-year-old Tommy Yam, working in asset management, expressed his concerns: "It is absolutely bad for Hong Kong. Because for Hong Kong, the most important thing is the high autonomy, if the national security law has passed, then the Hong Kong people, it's just like Hong Kong is returned to China before the fifty years (are over)."
A proposed march at noon in the central financial district did not materialise after online calls were heeded only by a handful of demonstrators, as riot police made their presence visible on the streets.
But there's new calls for flash mobs at night and activists including Joshua Wong plan to meet the press to announce "street action".
It's a sign that Hong Kong could plunge into renewed unrest following last year's often violent anti-China protests that plunged the city into its deepest turmoil since it returned to Beijing rule in 1997.
Beijing says the legislation will serve Hong Kong's interests and secure its development, but activists and politicians have for years opposed the idea of national security laws, arguing they could erode Hong Kong's high degree of autonomy, guaranteed under the "one country, two systems" handover agreement.
A previous attempt to adopt similar legislation in 2003 was met with a protest that drew around half a million people.
The new security legislation also prompted President Donald Trump to warn that Washington would react "very strongly" against China's attempt to gain more control over the former British colony.
