About 370 protesters were arrested in Hong Kong on Wednesday — 10 of them were apprehended for breaching the new security law just one day after it took effect.
10 of them were apprehended for breaching the new security law just one day after it took effect.
The new law came into force late Tuesday night, hours after the top decision making body of China’s parliament passed the controversial legislation.
Police used water cannons to disperse thousands of demonstrators in Hong Kong who poured out into the streets. In some cases, the protests turned violent. Seven officers were injured while on duty, police said.
Opponents of the law say it undermines the city’s autonomy that was promised when Hong Kong was handed over from the U. K. to China.
British Foreign Minister Dominic Raab said the fact that Beijing can have jurisdiction over complex national security cases is a «flagrant assault on freedom of speech and freedom of peaceful protest for the people of Hong Kong.»
Hong Kong, a former British colony, returned to Chinese rule in 1997.
Under the «one country, two systems» policy, the territory is given more freedoms than other cities in China, and has a largely separate legal and economic system from the mainland that is attractive to international businesses. That framework was supposed to be in place until 2047.
