The imposition of the law has generated widespread fear in Hong Kong. Libraries and schools have stripped books from their shelves written by pro-democracy activists
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Mr. Litton echoed that view, lashing out at critics who have pointed to the law as a threat to the liberties that have kept Hong Kong unique from the authoritarian imposition of justice in mainland China. According to the new law, state security agents are not subject to local rules while police have gained new powers to conduct searches without warrants, censor information, freeze assets and ban people from leaving the city.
Mr. Litton has been outspoken about protesters in the city, whose demands for democratic reforms he has called futile; and the judiciary in Hong Kong which, he has said, has grown out of touch with its core duties and with the legal problems it is meant to address. The national-security law shows “that Beijing seems to have lost confidence in the judicial system in Hong Kong to some degree,” he said.
He dismissed some criticism as fanciful. The law bans “provoking by unlawful means hatred” toward authorities in Hong Kong and China. “If you provoke by unlawful means – is it not acting unlawfully?” he said. Could the law be used to exact heavy punishment for trivial matters? After all, some of the first people arrested under the law were accused of holdings signs and banners declaring Hong Kong independence, a slogan local authorities have now expressly banned.
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