HK Pro-Democracy Camp Stages Final Protest

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By NTD Newsroom
November 12, 2020NTD News Today
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Hong Kong’s pro-democracy camp lawmakers staged a final protest on Nov. 12 before collectively resigning in protest of the government’s dismissal of four colleagues.

Carrie Lam’s pro-Beijing government expelled the four opposition members from the legislature on Nov. 11 for what the Chinese Communist Party calls endangering China’s national security.

This happened after Beijing granted the local government executive powers to further curb dissent, meaning it can do so without having to go through the courts.

Pro-democracy lawmakers see the dismissal of the four as another bid by Beijing to suppress liberal democratic values in the region. Lawmaker Lam Cheuk-ting briefly displayed a banner in the building reading, “Carrie Lam is corrupting Hong Kong and hurting its people. She will be nailed to history’s pillar of shame.”

Pro-democracy lawmaker Claudio Mo arrived with her resignation letter dressed in black—a color symbolic of last year’s anti-extradition protests, and with a nod to the 2014 Umbrella Movement.

”I am sad but also relieved, relieved in a sense that this council at the moment is very, very painful to deal with because it is so full of fake speeches and it’s so full of faux sincerity, fake sincerity. All they do is, just being the government’s mouthpiece,” Mo said.

Another pro-democracy lawmaker Wu Chi-Wai said the fight against the communist government will be a long battle.

”You know cause we all know that for the authoritative type of government they will suppress all the opinions, wills coming from the opposition powers or parties, and we have to understand and be aware of that. But we can only stand with it and fight for freedom and fight for democracy in a long span.”

Britain on Nov. 12 said China had broken the Sino-British Joint Declaration by imposing its new national security law.

Nigel Adams, the UK’s minister for Asia, stated: “It breaches both China’s commitment that Hong Kong will enjoy a high degree of autonomy and the right to freedom of speech guaranteed under paragraph three of the declaration. This is the third time the government has called a breach of the joint declaration since 1997, but the second time we’ve been forced to do so in the last six months.”

Adams said Britain had summoned China’s ambassador, Liu Xiaoming, to register its concerns.

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