Govt Appeals Court's Ban on Anti-Mask
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4 | Tuesday, November 26, 2019 HONG KONG EDITION | CHINA DAILY CHINA Govt appeals court’s ban on anti-mask law High Court’s ruling against necessity rebutted; rights of protesters ‘unabridged’ By KATHY ZHANG in Hong Kong reasonable necessity to introduce the [email protected] anti-mask law to protect the city’s residents under such chaotic and The Hong Kong SAR government violent circumstances. on Monday submitted documents to Moreover, under the anti-mask the Court of Appeal to apply for an law, the restrictions on rights and appeal against the court’s ruling on freedom are limited and they won’t the city’s anti-mask law. abridge the rights of people who par- The Court of First Instance of the ticipate in lawful assemblies, accord- High Court on Nov 18 ruled that the ing to the documents. Members of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong take a deep bow at a news conference on Monday by anti-mask law, introduced under the The government hopes that the way of expressing their gratitude and offering apologies to supporters a day after their massive setback in the District Council Election. city leader’s emergency powers in Court of Appeal can accept that the CHINA DAILY early October, was unconstitutional. law is necessary for the city under Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng the current situation as there is still Yuet-ngor in early October invoked large space to discuss whether the the Emergency Regulations Ordi- situation is in line with the defi nition Pro-establishment camp vows to continue nance in a bid to help the city’s belea- of “jeopardizing public safety”. guered police force quell increasingly Violent protests imposed more violent and protracted social unrest. pressure on front-line police o cers The judge’s explanation is that the and led to the shortage of human serving community after stunning defeat provisions of the Emergency Regu- resources, and the privacy of people lations Ordinance, which empower who got involved in violence and the chief executive to make related vandalism doesn’t need to be pro- By KATHY ZHANG, Kong — the city’s largest politi- major party of the pro-establish- election, won only fi ve seats. regulations under certain circum- tected, the documents read. GU MENGYAN and HE SHUSI cal party — said on Monday she ment camp —won only three of the The results showed that candi- stances, were inconsistent with the In Hong Kong the High Court is in Hong Kong understood residents’ discontent 452 seats during this election. dates’ records of long service at city’s Basic Law and that the main made up of the Court of Appeal and with the status quo and their con- On Monday, Lo Wai-kwok, alli- community levels counted little in elements of the anti-mask regulation the Court of First Instance. It has Hong Kong’s pro-establishment cerns after more than fi ve months ance chairman, expressed disap- the election, FTU president Stanley was found to be disproportionate to both appellate and original jurisdic- camp pledged to continue serving of street violence. pointment with the outcome, say- Ng Chau-pei said. the situation. tion, that is, it can both hear appeals the community and to proactively Lee acknowledged defeat and ing the unsatisfying results were a “Despite the FTU’s solid founda- The government pointed out in sent to it and try cases fi rst taken improve people’s livelihoods after apologized to the party’s support- warning about defi ciencies in the tion in serving the community at the fi led documents that there is a to it. su ering a massive setback in local ers, as 160 of the DAB candidates government’s performance. the grassroots level, we still have elections. lost their races, while only 21, Lo said he hopes the government failed to turn the tide,” Ng told a The promise follows the oppo- including her, were elected. can seriously refl ect (on its defi - news briefing after the election. sition camp’s victory in grabbing She vowed that the DAB will ciencies) and ensure a fair and safe “We will reflect deeply on our HK: Attempts to destabilize majority control of district-level reflect on the failure and better legislative election next year. He failure and improve our work in a airs in the city’s District Council respond to the local communities, also vows that the party will thor- future.” He added that political elections on Sunday. as well as continue to improve peo- oughly review its own past e orts. demands had overridden liveli- the SAR would be ‘in vain’ Starry Lee Wai-king, chairperson ple’s livelihoods. hood issues. of the Democratic Alliance for the The Business and Professionals ‘Black terror’ key factor Meanwhile, Ng thinks that the Betterment and Progress of Hong Alliance for Hong Kong — another “Black terror” and threats spread election was held in an “extremely From page 1 and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said and imposed by radicals during the unfair and disorderly environ- that any attempt to destabilize and months-long social unrest is one of ment”, which saw repeated violent The spokesman rea rmed that damage Hong Kong’s stability and reasons that the party had a wor- attacks against FTU candidates. the central government is deter- prosperity would be in vain. rying situation in the election, Lo Nearly 30 of the FTU’s train- mined to safeguard national sov- No matter how the situation in said, referring to the violence and ing centers, medical clinics and ereignty, security and development Hong Kong unfolds, it is clear that vandalism meted out by mostly councilors’ o ces were vandalized. interests, implement the “one coun- Hong Kong is a part of China’s ter- black-clad anti-government pro- Many candidates’ posters were try, two systems” principle, and ritory and an SAR of the country, testers. torn down and destroyed. oppose any foreign interference in Wang said during his visit to Japan. Some candidates, volunteers and The special administrative Hong Kong a airs. supporters were threatened; some region government must introduce Also on Monday, State Councilor CHINA DAILY — XINHUA councilors’ offices were vandal- concrete measures to mend the ized before the election, with some rift, and restore the city’s law and having been torched with gasoline order after the election, said Ng, poverty and address the impacts of bombs. who is also a Hong Kong deputy climate change. The annual invest- “We will stand fi rm against vio- to the National People’s Congress, Experts ment gap is $459 billion, of which lence, safeguard the community’s the country’s top legislature. “Or $129 billion per year is attributed to peace and safety, and make con- everyone in Hong Kong will be the climate adjustment. tributions to Hong Kong,” Lo said. loser,” Ng said. take aim at “To address this investment gap, The Hong Kong Federation of financing reform should be intro- Wong Kwok-kin (center) of the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Trade Unions, which held 30 seats Contact the writers at duced to attract social and private Unions speaks at a news conference on Monday. CHINA DAILY in the District Council before the [email protected] climate investors. Given the global nature of climate change and its adverse impacts, we believe that climate investment fi nance is of utmost importance and should be mobilized globally,” she ‘Protest vote’ may hurt people’s benefi ts: Analyst By HOU LIQIANG said. [email protected] While endorsing the importance of By LI BINGCUN and HE SHUSI chuted into the races. political a nity, perhaps age a n- climate investment and fi nance, Chi- in Hong Kong For instance, pro-establishment ity also played a role in this year’s Experts have called for tailored nese experts said the country still has lawmaker Horace Cheung Kwok- election, as young voters are more reform to address the low profi tabili- to remove a series of hindering fac- Most voters of the just-concluded kwan, who sought re-election in Some voters might likely to vote for young candidates ty of climate-friendly investment, fol- tors for promotion of the instrument. District Council elections cast their the Sai Wan constituency, lost by who hold similar views to them. lowing the country’s recent initiation Lu Zhengwei, chief economist of votes out of dissatisfaction with the 795 votes to opposition candidate not wholeheart- About one-tenth of the city’s 4.1 of a think tank to tap the potential of Industrial Bank, said China has yet to government, instead of making a Jordan Pang Ka-ho, a university edly support those million voters are newly registered fi nancial instruments in the sector. set up a mechanism for sustainable rational decision, political analysts junior. opposition candi- since 2015. Of the total registered Launched by fi ve central govern- development of climate investment said on Monday, cautioning that In Lau’s opinion, some voters voters, about half of them are in the ment bodies, including the Ministry and finance, and keep it separate voters may end up paying a price might not wholeheartedly sup- dates, but they just 18-35 age group. What’s more, the of Ecology and Environment and the from green investment and fi nance. for that choice. port those opposition candidates, wanted to vent their election result showed that a large People’s Bank of China, the Climate There are even now very limited On Sunday, Hong Kong held its but they just wanted to vent their number of successful candidates are Investment and Finance Association applications of green fi nance, though fi rst election since protest violence anger with the SAR government at anger with the SAR in the 18-40 age group.