Jane Onyanga-Omara, and John Bacon

USA TODAY

China took the unprecedented action Monday of barring two of Hong Kong's newly elected, pro-independence lawmakers from taking office.

The move by China's top legislative panel shows how the communist government wants to maintain control over Hong Kong, a semi-autonomous city, and could prompt more protests.

About 2,000 police officers will be deployed night and day this week to quell any violence, with at least two protests already planned, the South China Morning Post reported. Thousands of protesters took to the streets Sunday ahead of the ruling, carrying signs in Chinese and English saying, "Stop annexation of HK democratic rights" and "Defend rule of law."

Monday's ruling by the National People’s Congress Standing Committee in Beijing blocks the two lawmakers — Sixtus Leung, 30, and Yau Wai-ching, 25 — from a second opportunity to take their oath of office.

They were elected to Hong Kong's Legislative Council in September, but when they took their oaths last month, they deviated from the script by using a derogatory pronunciation of China and making other disparaging gestures, including displaying a flag reading “Hong Kong is not China.”

Thousands protest to support Hong Kong pro-independence duo

Their oaths were declared invalid, and the council president scheduled a redo, prompting mayhem in the council's weekly sessions, the Associated Press reported. Hong Kong's special administrator, handpicked by Beijing, then stepped in to bar the two from taking the oath again until the government’s legal challenge was settled.

Beijing's top committee decided to act quickly, ruling on a section of Hong Kong’s Basic Law, or mini-constitution, covering oaths taken by officials.

In the interpretation published Monday, the committee said talk of independence for Hong Kong is intended to “divide the country” and severely harms the country’s unity, territorial sovereignty and national security.

It also said those who advocate for independence for Hong Kong are not only disqualified from an election and from assuming posts as lawmakers but should also be investigated for their legal obligations.

Monday's action was the first time Beijing stepped in to block elected Hong Kong lawmakers from taking office. It’s also the first time that Beijing has interpreted the Basic Law before a Hong Kong court has delivered a ruling, the AP reported.

Leung and Yau represent a powerful push for freedom driven by Hong Kong's youth. Many of the pro-independence candidates took part in the Umbrella Revolution of 2014, when youthful protesters took to the streets to express anger over efforts by Beijing to pre-screen candidates for office in Hong Kong.

Voters in Hong Kong further fueled the challenge to Beijing's authority in the September election, when pro-democracy candidates won about 40% of the legislature's 70 seats. That provided veto power over central government edicts.

“For the young people this is going to definitely create a backlash. This is going to further fuel the independence movement,” Samson Yuen, a politics lecturer at the Open University of Hong Kong, told the AP.

Li Fei, a deputy secretary general of the standing committee, denied that the central government was escalating its interference in Hong Kong’s affairs.

He said the Basic Law stipulates that Beijing holds the legal power to make interpretations. He also warned that promoting independence was not a matter of freedom of speech.

“Breaking ‘one-country two-systems’ is violating the law, not voicing a political view,” said Li, referring to a principle under which Beijing is supposed to let Hong Kong keep its capitalist economic and political system separate from mainland China’s until 2047, the AP reported.

Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying said the government will implement the committee’s ruling, saying the two elected politicians had advocated independence for Hong Kong and insulted China with their words and actions.