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HONG KONG: On Thursday (October 1) the Hong Kong leader praised her city’s “return to peace” after China imposed a security law that helped quell last year’s huge democracy movement, as thousands of police officers were on standby to put down new protests during the day’s National Celebrations.
The People’s Republic of China celebrates its founding on October 1 with a carefully choreographed holiday and festivities.
But in Hong Kong, it has become a day of grievance for those concerned about Beijing’s intensifying crackdown on its opponents.
The protest has been banned for most of this year, and Beijing also imposed a strict national security law at the mall in June.
LEE: Hong Kong bans the protest for China’s National Day
On Thursday morning, Chinese and Hong Kong-flagged helicopters buzzed into the port as CEO Carrie Lam and senior Chinese officials attended a ceremony at an exhibition center surrounded by police and security barriers.
“In recent months, an indisputable fact in front of everyone is that our society has returned to peace,” Lam said in his speech.
“The national security of our country has been protected in Hong Kong and our citizens can again exercise their rights and freedoms in accordance with the laws,” he added.
Last year, the 70th anniversary brought fierce clashes between protesters and police during seven consecutive months of demonstrations sweeping Hong Kong.
Authorities denied permission for a protest march this year, citing security concerns and a ban against the coronavirus of more than four people gathered in public.
Citing the pandemic, authorities also suspended September’s local elections for a year, one of the few times Hong Kong residents can vote.
READ: Hong Kong Democratic lawmakers stage brief protest in legislature against arrests in China
A police source told AFP that 6,000 police officers had been recruited to stop any protests, twice the contingency generally reserved for days when the force expects demonstrations to occur.
“END OF THE RULE OF A MATCH”
Near the fairground where the ceremony was taking place, four members of the opposition Social Democratic League shouted slogans such as “End the one-party regime”, surrounded by some 40 policemen.
Officers were seen searching cars in a major tunnel under Hong Kong harbor on Thursday morning and maintained a high presence throughout the city.
This week, police said they had arrested five people on suspicion of inciting others to protest and commit violence.
The request for the rally was made by the Civil Human Rights Front, a coalition that organized record marches last year.
The group calls for the release of 12 Hong Kongers into Chinese custody who were captured last month trying to flee prosecutions linked to the protests.
READ: Families fear for Hong Kong fugitives in Chinese custody
Those 12 were trying to escape to Taiwan by boat but were intercepted by the Chinese coastguard and have since disappeared into China’s opaque judicial system.
For most of this year, protest has been nearly impossible in Hong Kong.
On the rare occasions that demonstrations do break out, riot police and plainclothes officers move quickly: on one day last month, nearly 300 people were arrested.
Over the past 16 months, more than 10,000 have been arrested during the protests and the courts are packed with trials. Many prominent protest leaders are being prosecuted.
“Even if they try to arrest us, prosecute us and put us in jail, there is no reason for us to give up,” the city’s top activist, Joshua Wong, told reporters on Wednesday.
NEW SAFETY LAW
The crackdown has been aided by the national security law that China imposed on the city in June.
The broadly drafted legislation criminalized the expression of certain opinions, deepened the political chill seeping into the city, and allowed China’s security apparatus to operate openly in Hong Kong for the first time.
READ: Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong arrested for 2019 ‘illegal gathering’
Among the Chinese officials who took the stage at Thursday’s ceremony was Zheng Yanxiong, director of a newly created national security office in the city.
The security law has prompted sanctions by the United States and condemnation from many other Western nations.
But authorities in Beijing and Hong Kong say it is necessary to restore stability.
“The national security law will absolutely prevent Hong Kong agitators from getting away with it,” the Liaison Office, which represents the Chinese government in Hong Kong, said this week.
