More than 2,000 join silent protest after China intervened in supposedly independent legal system to stop activists joining parliament

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

More than 2,000 lawyers and activists have paraded through Hong Kong in silence and dressed in black to protest against Beijing’s unprecedented intervention in the former British colony’s supposedly independent legal system as a means of ousting two democratically elected pro-independence politicians.

The demonstration, reportedly only the fourth of its kind since Hong Kong returned to Chinese rule in 1997, comes a day after Beijing issued a rare and highly controversial legal interpretation of Hong Kong’s mini-constitution to prevent two young activists from taking up their seats in the 70-seat parliament.



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“I really don’t know how long Hong Kong can take it,” said Audrey Eu, a pro-democracy politician who was among those to join the march going from outside the high court to the court of final appeal on Tuesday afternoon.

The Civic party chairwoman, who like many of the protesters had come in black funeral attire, accused Beijing of seriously undermining the city’s autonomy with its actions.



“They think that by … taking away people’s rights [to take office] then Hong Kong people will become silent. But it doesn’t work like that. The more severe the attack, the more repression there is, very often the reaction goes stronger, particularly among young people,” Eu said.



“A lot of people feel that if measured response and rational discussion does not help then maybe they are going to go further down the road of violence – and that really does not bode well for Hong Kong.”



Sixtus “Baggio” Leung, 30, and Yau Wai-ching, 25, the two politicians at the centre of the storm, were elected to Hong Kong’s legislative council in early September, carried into office by a wave of discontent at what many perceive as Beijing’s growing meddling in the former colony’s affairs.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Lawyers and law students gather outside Hong Kong’s high court. Photograph: Alex Hofford/EPA

But the two firebrands set themselves on a collision course with China’s rulers last month when they used their swearing in ceremony to lash out at Beijing, unfurling flags that read “Hong Kong is not China”.

On Monday, China reacted to what it appears to have viewed as an unforgivable affront by issuing an interpretation of Hong Kong’s Basic Law that in effect bars the pair from taking up their parliamentary roles.



Experts described the move as China’s most direct intervention in the semi-autonomous city’s legal system since handover.



Li Fei, the deputy head of China’s most important legislative panel, told reporters Yau and Leung were “national and ethnic traitors”, adding ominously: “All traitors and those who sell out their countries will come to no good end.”

China’s state media applauded the move on Tuesday. The Communist party’s official mouthpiece, the People’s Daily, vowed that “no mercy” would be shown to an intolerable and unrepentant collection of pro-independence “elements” who posed a direct threat to Chinese sovereignty.

Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post echoed those views, describing the intervention as a “strong tool to stamp out pro-independence forces”.

“Beijing is determined to keep separatists out of public office,” the pro-establishment newspaper said.

Pro-democracy activists have reacted to the intervention with astonishment and dismay.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Baggio Leung (left) and Yau Wai-ching during a protest march. Photograph: Isaac Lawrence/AFP/Getty Images

In a statement released on Monday night two of Hong Kong’s leading pro-democracy voices, Nathan Law and Eddie Chu, said Beijing’s ruling was not simply an attack on two pro-independence politicians but rather an attempt to “put the political reins” on the whole of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement.

“All participants in the democratic movement must stand in solidarity, for no one is safe alone, in the face of such a dictatorship which sees any effort to strive for democracy as a secessionist threat to its rule,” they said.

Members of Hong Kong’s legal community are also aghast, with many viewing Beijing’s actions as a severe blow to the former colony’s judiciary.

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Pro-democracy groups took out prominent advertisements in local newspapers on Tuesday morning that read: “Beijing destroys the rule of law – Hong Kong is a world city no more.”

By the afternoon, hundreds of members of the former colony’s legal community and other demonstrators had gathered outside the high court to begin their silent march.



“The legal sector has to come out and express our discontent and that we oppose this,” said Margaret Ng, a prominent local barrister.

“If the legal sector does not come out and protest then it will mean that we have accepted it. We will never accept this – not even for the 100th time.”



Facebook Twitter Pinterest Leung (centre, wearing glasses) is restrained by security after attempting to read out his oath of office. Photograph: Anthony Wallace/AFP/Getty Images

Lee Cheuk-yan, a veteran labour and democracy activist, said that having deprived Hong Kong’s citizens of genuine democracy in 2014, Beijing was now seeking to strip them of the right to criticise the Communist party or freely elect their own representatives to the city’s parliament.



On Monday, the British Foreign Office expressed concern about the political crisis in a brief and cautiously worded statement.



Lu Kang, a spokesperson for China’s foreign ministry, responded on Tuesday, urging the British government to “be cautious with its words and deeds, to refrain from interfering in Hong Kong’s affairs and to offer no support to Hong Kong independence forces”.