Hong Kong protesters don cartoon masks to defy face mask ban

Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters donned cartoon character masks and formed human chains across semiautomous Chinese city on Friday night, in defiance of a government ban on face coverings.

Garing along city’s subway lines, many protest supporters masquered as Winnie Pooh or Guy Fawkes.

Chinese internet users have joked that Chinese President Xi Jinping resembles talking bear, leing country’s censors to scrub online references to character. Fawkes masks have come to represent anti-government protests around world.

protesters were taking a ligharted approach to opposing government’s decision this month to invoke colonial-era emergency regulations banning face masks at rallies as it struggles to contain chaotic protest movement.

Hong Kong’s leer has said ban on masks, which have become a hallmark of protests, is aimed at deterring rical behaviour.

But protesters say y wear m out of fear of retribution and concern that ir identities will be shared with China’s massive state security apparatus.

Some protesters out Friday assumed identity of Xi or Hong Kong’s deeply unpopular Beijing-backed leer, Chief Executive Carrie Lam. Ors wore masks depicting Pepe Frog, a character that has become a symbol for Hong Kong protesters unaware of its association with far-right extremists in U.S.

At least one protester parodied NBA basketball star, LeBron James. James has been criticized for caving to China’s communist leers after he suggested free speech can have consequences, following a w-deleted tweet by Houston Rockets general manr Daryl Morey in support of protests that angered Beijing.

protesters’ aim was to form human chains extending 40 kilometres (25 miles) across Hong Kong by tracing city’s subway system, mimicking a similar event in August. It’s unclear if y achieved that. re were gaps in a part of chain in one downtown location.