Within hours of China imposing its new national security law on Hong Kong, city police deployed a new weapon in their battle with protesters – a purple flag warning protesters that shouting certain slogans or carrying banners can now file criminal charges.
The city’s police force has often used different flags in its year-long battles with protesters: black banners to warn of the imminent launch of tear gas, and red flags to indicate that a failure to stop the advance would be met with force.
But the use of the new flag came as a surprise at how quickly it was introduced, and reflected the aggressiveness of the force in cracking down on behavior that just a day earlier was not illegal.
The flag warned protesters against “displaying flags or banners / chanting slogans / or behaving with an intention such as secession or subversion, which may constitute crimes” under the new law. “He can be arrested and prosecuted,” he said.
Hong Kong’s notion of independence has long been a third lane for the Chinese government, but until the introduction of the new law, the authorities had a much more restricted ability to quell the protests.
At the height of pro-democracy protests in the city last year, one of the main chants was “Hong Kong’s independence is the only way out.” The new national security law directly targets such sentiments, with sentences of up to life in prison for those found guilty of any violation.
The police not only rushed to unfold their new flag, but to make use of the new law; at noon they announced on Twitter that they had made their first arrest under the new rules, accusing a man, who was not publicly identified, of displaying a Hong Kong flag of independence.
Police late Wednesday said more than 300 people had been arrested during the day’s protests, charging them with crimes ranging from illegal assembly, disorderly conduct and “furious driving.” Nine of those people were accused of violating the new national security law.
Tiffany May contributed reporting.
