Pro-China Hong Kong police gets aggressive on youth, blames them for regional instability

Amid the chaos over the implementation of the new security law in Hong Kong, the pro-China Hong Kong police have now adopted an aggressive approach towards the pro-democracy Hong Kongers. While justifying its aggressive stand against the demonstrators, the police are now accusing young Hong Kongers of committing crimes under the pretext of demonstrations and protests. The police arrested 35 people on Friday for protesting against China's plan to impose national security law on the semi-autonomous territory of Hong Kong.

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Speaking at a round table organised by the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, Commissioner of police of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government, Chris Tang Ping-keung had said that young people committing crimes have become a trend in the territory amid protests against China.

In 2019, a total of 4,268 young people were arrested, an increase of more than 50 per cent from 2018. Of the 8,057 people arrested from last June to April 2020, more than 40 per cent were reported being students, according to Tang.

According to a South China Morning Post report, under Beijing's proposal, the Hong Kong government will have to set up new institutions to safeguard national security and also allow mainland Chinese agencies to operate in the city "when needed". The opposition politicians have criticised all the moves calling them the means to suppress dissent. With the introduction of the legislation, critics are apprehensive that it would undermine the principle of "one country, two systems", eventually leading to the decimation of Hong Kong's autonomy stated under the Sino-British joint declaration of 1997.

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This unilateral decision by the Chinese communist regime has deeply concerned the International community as the US, UK, Canada and Australia opposed the decision of China to impose the security law in Hong Kong.

In a joint statement, the four countries said that direct imposition of national security legislation on Hong Kong by the Beijing authorities, rather than through Hong Kong's own institutions as provided for under Article 23 of the Basic Law, "would curtail the Hong Kong people's liberties, and in doing so, dramatically erode Hong Kong's autonomy and the system that made it so prosperous".