Bans and restrictions mark first demonstration in more than 2 years

Limited number of participants, pre-established spaces, identification cards and banner control. The security law blocks public demonstrations. Even after withdrawing the health protocols due to the pandemic, there is little room for public dissent. At the beginning of the month, the march of a group defending women’s rights was cancelled.

Hong Kong () – A maximum of 100 people; ID cards; uncovered faces; a cord to delimit the route; control of banners and posters. These are the conditions that the city police imposed yesterday to allow the first public protest in more than two years, since the national security law imposed by Beijing to silence the democratic opposition came into force.

As various media outlets pointed out, the restrictions discouraged the participants: according to the organizers, there were about 80 demonstrators. They marched in the eastern district of Tseung Kwan O to protest against a government land reclamation project, which includes the construction of a waste treatment plant.

According to several observers, the security measure is so broad that it can be directed against all types of behavior. As of December 2022, there were 227 people detained under the draconian law; 135 with at least one accusation.

Actually, the small town Constitution (Basic Law) guarantees freedom of expression. To hinder demonstrations of dissent, the authorities also frequently resorted to sanitary restrictions due to Covid-19. After the central government decided in December to abandon the zero Covid policy imposed by Xi Jinping, Hong Kong also abandoned the latest restrictions against the pandemic.

With the reopening, it now remains to be seen if the executive of the former British colony accepts the usual demonstrations organized by the democratic side. In 2022, for the third year in a row, city authorities banned the annual vigil in Victoria Park for the victims of the Tiananmen massacre. On June 4, 1989, the Chinese leadership had ordered the massacre in Beijing of thousands of students and citizens who demanded freedom and democracy in the country.

The traditional July Day march has not been held since 2020. The first, in 2003, brought together 500,000 people: it was called against an anti-subversion law proposed by the Tung Chee-hwa municipal government.

The signs are not encouraging for the pro-democracy front, already decimated by arrests and convictions. Earlier this month, a women’s rights group canceled a public initiative after police summoned the organizers several times.