China\u2019s puppet legislature finally passed the long-feared Hong-Kong-crackdown law \u2014 unanimously, of course. The city\u2019s people had barely an hour to read \u2026<\/b>
\nChina\u2019s puppet legislature finally passed the long-feared Hong-Kong-crackdown law \u2014 unanimously, of course. The city\u2019s people had barely an hour to read it before it took effect at midnight on July 1.
Each of four categories of new offenses can lead to life imprisonment. The South China Morning Post\u2019s Stuart Lau broke the details down on Twitter, concluding, \u201cI\u2019m wondering if the above tweets amount to fueling anyone\u2019s hatred against any governments.\u201d
Hong Kongers risk sentences starting at three years for any effort to disrupt China\u2019s one-party rule, including by pleading for foreign support, as well as for trying to seriously interfere with policymaking that would further kill the liberties that Beijing promised to preserve through 2047. And for trying to \u201cmanipulate or disrupt\u201d election results or \u201cfuel hatred\u201d of the Beijing regime.
Or, as Agence France-Presse\u2019s Xinqi Su put it: \u201cNational-security police and agents can basically do whatever they feel necessary to \u2018suspects.\u2019 \u201d
The pro-democracy Demosisto Party disbanded instantly \u2014 in part because its leader, Joshua Wong Chi-fung, lobbied US politicians to pass last year\u2019s Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act. Also \u201cvoluntarily\u201d closing was the pro-independence Hong Kong National Front. The island\u2019s citizens are deleting their Twitter accounts in droves.
It\u2019s a dark night for freedom.<\/p>\n