Hong Kong Makes First Arrest Under New National Security Law

Hong Kong police made their first arrest under sweeping national security legislation that has dramatically curtailed dissent in the city — less than 24 hours after Chinese lawmakers handed it down.

Earlier in the day, Chief Executive Carrie Lam called the law the “most important development” in relations between Hong Kong and China since the city’s handover from British rule in 1997, despite concerns about what the measure will mean for its future autonomy from the mainland. The legislation calls for sentences as long as life in prison for the most serious cases of terrorism, secession, subversion of state power and collusion with foreign forces.

The law came into force just ahead of the July 1 anniversary of Hong Kong’s return to China in 1997, a symbolic occasion usually marked by mass protests against Beijing. An appeals panel upheld an unprecedented police ban against a Civil Human Rights Front rally planned for Wednesday, but a few dozen protesters came out in the afternoon in Causeway Bay, chanting slogans including “Liberate Hong Kong! Revolution of our time!”

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