Hong Kong: Hong Kong’s leader announced a ban Friday on protesters wearing face masks, invoking colonial-era emergency powers, in a bid to quell months of violent anti-government unrest.
Chief executive Carrie Lam said she had made the order under the Emergency Regulations Ordinances (ERO), a sweeping law that grants her the ability to make any law during a time of emergency or public danger. It is the first time the law has been invoked in 52 years.
“We believe that the new law will create a deterrent effect against masked violent protesters and rioters, and will assist the police in its law enforcement,” Carrie Lam said.
But Lam stressed her use of the powers did not mean the government had officially declared a state of emergency. “Although the ordinance carries the title emergency, Hong Kong is not in a state of emergency,” Lam asserted.
Before the announcement, thousands of masked protesters – many of them office workers – marched through the city’s commercial district Friday, promising to defy the new law.
“Youngsters are risking their lives, they don’t mind being jailed for 10 years, so wearing masks is not a problem,” a 34-year-old office worker wearing a surgical mask, who gave her first name as Mary, told this agency
The ERO was last implemented in Hong Kong in 1967 by the British during the deadly leftist riots. More than 50 people were killed in a year-long leftist bombing and murder spree.
AFP