CHINA has passed controversial new security laws for Hong Kong which campaigners say will turn the semi-autonomous region into a "secret police state".

The hard-line laws, which could reportedly see dissidents jailed for life, were passed unanimously by the Chinese parliament.

2 Hundreds of thousands of Hong Kongers take to the streets as protests reach their seventh month Credit: Reuters

What is happening in Hong Kong?

Protests have spread across Hong Kong since June 2019 as a result of a controversial law that extradites Hong Kongers convicted of crimes to mainland China and Taiwan.

China has now passed a controversial new law, sparking the most radical changes to the former British colony since it was returned to China 23 years ago.

Though the exact wording of the law has been kept under wraps, it is thought to criminalise any act of subversion, terrorism or collusion within foreign forces.

It's been reported that the state run crackdown could come into force in the next 24 hours.

The move will allow China's feared security agencies to start working in Hong Kong for the first time.

Speaking about the news, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said: "We are deeply concerned by unconfirmed reports that Beijing has passed the national security law. This would be a grave step.

"Once we have seen the full legislation, we will make a further statement."

Clashes have raged on for months and police firing rubber bullets, tear gas,and pepper spray at protesters has become common place.

A mammoth protest on Monday, December 9, marked six months of the clashes as hundreds of thousands filled the streets in a mass show of support for an anti-government movement that shows no signs of flagging.

They chanted “Reclaim Hong Kong, Revolution of our time!” as the crowd stretched two miles through the streets.

China has threatened to intervene if protests continue.

2 A protester fires a flaming arrow at the Chinese University of Hong Kong amid violent clashes Credit: AFP or licensors

Why are people protesting?

A planned law that would allow Hong Kongers convicted of crimes to be extradited to China and Taiwan sparked the civil unrest.

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam was then forced into a U-turn and formally withdrew the extradition bill.

But demos have escalated and protesters are also demanding an independent inquiry into alleged police misconduct against protesters and the unconditional release of those detained.

The demonstrations have mushroomed into a broader backlash against the government and police, fuelled by fears about growing control by China's Communist party.

What has happened so far?

Here is a timeline of how the Hong Kong protests have escalated:

February 2019 – Hong Kong’s Security Bureau submits a paper to the city’s legislature proposing amendments to extradition laws that would provide for case-by-case extraditions to countries, including mainland China, beyond the 20 states with which Hong Kong already has treaties.

March 31 - Thousands take to the streets of Hong Kong to protest against the proposed extradition bill.

April 3 – Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam’s government introduces amendments to Hong Kong’s extradition laws that would allow criminal suspects to be sent to mainland China for trial.

April 28 – Tens of thousands of people march on Hong Kong’s city assembly building, the Legislative Council, to demand the scrapping of the proposed amendments to the extradition laws.

May 11 – Scuffles break out in Hong Kong’s legislature between pro-democracy lawmakers and those loyal to Beijing over the extradition bill.

May 21 – Lam says her administration is determined to push the bill through the legislature.

May 30 – Hong Kong introduces concessions to the extradition bill, including limiting the scope of extraditable offences. Critics say they are not enough.

June 6 – More than 3,000 Hong Kong lawyers take to the streets dressed in black in a rare protest march against the extradition law.

June 9 - More than half a million take to the streets in protest.

June 12 – Police fire rubber bullets and tear gas during the city’s largest and most violent protests in decades. Government offices are shut for the rest of the week.

June 15 – Lam indefinitely delays the proposed extradition law.

July 1 - Protesters storm the Legislative Council on the 22nd anniversary of the handover from British to Chinese rule, destroying pictures and daubing walls with graffiti.

July 9 - Lam says the extradition bill is dead and that government work on the legislation had been a “total failure”.

July 21 - Men, clad in white T-shirts and some armed with poles, flood into rural Yuen Long station and storm a train, attacking passengers and passers-by, including members of the media, after several thousand activists surrounded China’s representative office in the city earlier in the day, and clashed with police.

July 30 - Forty-four activists are charged with rioting, the first time this charge has been used during these protests.

August 9 - China’s aviation regulator demands Hong Kong flag carrier Cathay Pacific suspend personnel who have taken part in the protests. The airline suspends a pilot, one of 44 charged with rioting the month before, the next day.

August 14 - Police and protesters clash at Hong Kong’s international airport after flights were disrupted for a second day. The airport resumed operations later that day, rescheduling hundreds of flights.

August 21 - China’s biggest e-commerce company Alibaba delays its up to $15 billion listing in Hong Kong, initially set for late August.

September 2 - Lam says she has caused “unforgivable havoc” by igniting the political crisis engulfing the city and would quit if she had a choice, according to an audio recording obtained by Reuters of remarks she made to a group of business people.

September 3 - Lam says she had never asked the Chinese government to let her resign to end the city’s political crisis, responding to the Reuters report.

September 4 - Lam announces formal withdrawal of controversial extradition bill. Critics say it is too little, too late.

September 7 - Police fire tear gas for a second consecutive night after fending off airport protests.

September 8 - Security forces fire tear gas to disperse protesters in upmarket Causeway Bay shopping district.

September 17 - Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam pledges to hold talks with the community to try to ease tensions.

September 22 - Hong Kong police fire tear gas to break up pro-democracy demonstrators who trashed fittings at a railway station and shopping mall.

September 26 - Hong Kong protesters trap city leader Carrie Lam in a stadium for hours after she holds her first “open dialogue” with the people.

October 1 - City rocked by the most widespread unrest since the start of the protests, as China’s Communist Party rulers celebrate 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic.

November 18 - Police and protesters had a stand-off at a University campus, officers warned they would use live ammunition if protesters didn't stop throwing petrol bombs

November 21 - A 12-year-old boy is the youngest protester to be arrested in the protests

November 25 - Pro-democracy politicians won 17 out of 18 districts in China and with Carrie Lam announcing she will reflect on the landslide result

November 26 - Chinese media outlets have attempted to downplay the results of the Hong Kong district elections

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December 1 - Protests continue to escalate as armed cops launch tear gas into rioting crowds

December 5 - Psychologists issue major warning that teenagers involved in the protests will be very different from other developed countries' youths.

December 7 - Pro-China supporters gather for counter protest and denounce anti-government demonstrators

December 8 - Hundreds of thousands of protesters take to the streets to mark six months of unrest

2020

January 1 - March drawing tens of thousands on New Year's Day spirals into chaos, as police fire water cannons and tear gas at crowds

April 17 - Beijing’s top representative office in Hong Kong says it is not bound by a law restricting interference by mainland Chinese bodies

April 18 - police arrest 15 activists, including Democratic Party founder Martin Lee, 81, and millionaire publishing tycoon Jimmy Lai, 71

May 8 - Rival lawmakers scuffle in the legislature over electing the chairman of a key committee

May 28 - President Donald Trump orders his administration to begin the process of eliminating special US treatment for Hong Kong

June 30 - China passes feared Hong Kong security law as campaigners warn city will become "secret police state"