Protesters march in silence over security laws in Hong Kong

Hong Kong police made 53 arrests Sunday amid protests over a planned national security law critics have said would undo the city’s autonomy from China.

Several hundred people marched through the city’s Kowloon district in silent protest of the law, but later chanted slogans at riot police, who eventually deployed pepper spray against demonstrators, Reuters reported. Police said the 53 people arrested were charged with unlawful assembly.

Police had previously refused permission for a traditional annual march held on July 1, the anniversary of the 1997 British handover of the city, citing an ongoing prohibition on mass gatherings due to the coronavirus pandemic, according to Reuters.

Beijing has claimed the law will only target “subversion” and “foreign interference,” but activists have called it the culmination of a long-term erosion of the “one country, two systems” law. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Friday announced visa restrictions on several Chinese officials in connection with the law.

“President Trump promised to punish the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials who were responsible for eviscerating Hong Kong’s freedoms,” Pompeo said in a statement. “Today, we are taking action to do just that.”

Beijing’s National People’s Congress Standing Committee reviewed a draft of the bill Sunday, according to Reuters. State media said the vast majority of legislators supported the draft, with state broadcaster CCTV saying the nation’s government has “unshakable determination to push ahead with enactment of the security bill and safeguard national sovereignty and interest.”

The bill follows months of protests, largely ended by the pandemic, against perceived Chinese incursions on Hong Kong’s autonomy. They began last summer after Chief Executive Carrie Lam introduced a measure that would allow the extradition of some criminal suspects to China, but continued after Lam pulled the bill, with demonstrators calling for her resignation and a probe into police brutality.