HK LAWMAKERS KICKED OUT OF CHAMBER FOR PROTESTING

Three members of the Hong Kong legislative assembly were ejected from the chamber as the body deliberated on the Chinese anthem bill that makes it mandatory for anyone to respect the anthem and punishes anyone insulting the song or rendering it in an irreverent manner, Zen Soo of the Associated Press reported on May 28, 2020.

The legislature’s president, Andrew Leung, suspended the meeting minutes after it began and ejected Eddie Chu for holding up a sarcastic sign about a pro-Beijing lawmaker that read “Best Chairperson, Starry Lee.” A second pro-democracy lawmaker was ejected for yelling after the meeting resumed, and then a third after rushing forward with a large plastic bottle in a cloth bag that spilled its brownish contents on the floor in front of the president’s raised dais.

“We have wanted to use any method to stop this national anthem law getting passed by this legislature, which is basically controlled by the Chinese Communist Party, because the law is just another way of putting pressure on Hong Kong people,”

Chu said outside the chamber.

The protests came as US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo notified Congress on Wednesday that the Trump administration no longer regards Hong Kong as autonomous from mainland China, setting the stage for the possible withdrawal of the preferential trade and financial status the US accords the former British colony, which Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong welcomed. #HongKong