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China insists on exclusive decision-making power over Hong Kong's constitution

2019-11-19T02:58:56.363Z


The demonstrators on Hong Kong's streets are allowed to fall asleep: That was the last decision of a court in the Special Administrative Region. It does not suit the Beijing government - and sends a clear message.



China has made it clear where it sees sole authority over Hong Kong's constitution: in Beijing. The Chinese People's Congress is the only institution that could make decisions on the Constitution of the Special Administrative Region, said Parliament Speaker Jian Tiewei, according to state Chinese media on Tuesday. The background to this is the ruling of the Hong Kong Supreme Court, which overturned the previous day's no-show ban on mothballing that had lasted for months.

According to Jian, only the National People's Congress has the right to decide whether a law complies with the Hong Kong constitution. The verdict has "greatly weakened" Hong Kong Prime Minister Carrie Lam and the city government.

At the beginning of October, the Hong Kong government resorted to a British colonial emergency law and imposed a cover-up ban to prevent demonstrators wearing face masks. The Hong Kong Supreme Court declared the law unconstitutional. In the former British crown colony of Hong Kong, there have been mass protests against the pro-Chinese government for months, which are increasingly turning into violence.

In the video: How a SPIEGEL reporter experienced the day of protests

Video

MIRROR ONLINE

Security forces roped in hundreds of democracy activists on Monday at a college. Using tear gas and truncheons, they attacked demonstrators trying to escape the campus. Dozens of people were arrested. Nevertheless, many activists managed to escape from the building in a spectacular way.

The university is increasingly becoming the center of protests

Protesters had entrenched themselves at the university on the Kowloon Peninsula this weekend. With bows and arrows, Molotov cocktails and slingshots, they tried to fend off the police. On the night of Monday, they set fire to the main entrance to prevent police intrusion.

Finally, demonstrators tried to break the police cordons around the university and flee, but were initially pushed back with tear gas. The officers arrested dozens of people and sometimes beat them with batons on the floor of the demonstrators.

In the evening, dozens of demonstrators managed to escape anyway. As shown on video footage of the news agency AFP, they roped off a pedestrian bridge onto a freeway, where they were picked up by waiting motorcyclists. At first it was unclear how many activists managed to escape and how many were still on campus.

Source: spiegel

All news articles on 2019-11-19

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