After Months of Unrest, Hong Kong Invokes Emergency Powers to Ban Face Masks

Hong Kong’s embattled top official, Chief Executive Carrie Lam, invoked colonial-era emergency regulations Friday to announce a ban on the wearing of face masks at unauthorized assemblies and other gatherings. Those violating the ban are liable to up to six months’ imprisonment.

The move is intended to curtail the months of anti-government protests that have rocked the former British possession and injured more than 1,100 people. But it may instead exacerbate tensions, with activists vowing to continue to defy the government.

Speaking to media in front of a screen that read “Treasure Hong Kong, End Violence,” Lam said the ban would come into effect on Oct. 5. “Why do we need to have this? Because, in the past four months, we’ve seen that almost all protestors who carry out vandalism and violence cover their faces,” she said.

“The purpose is to hide their identity and evade the law and they have become more and more daring. We believe the prohibition on face covering will be an effective deterrent on radical behavior and help police in regulating the law.”

Even before she announced the measure, protesters began gathering in the heart of Hong Kong’s financial district, occupying a key intersection and chanting slogans of the enclave’s fourth-month-old democratic rebellion. The ban is expected to provoke street protests tonight and over the weekend.

Tweeting just before the ban was announced, prominent campaigner Joshua Wong announced that the ban was “just the beginning” of draconian measures to come under Hong Kong’s Emergency Regulations Ordinance.

The government’s move comes after Hong Kong’s worst spell of unrest in more than 50 years. Over the weekend, thousands of protesters ran rampant across the city, fighting battles with police, smashing shops, setting fires and erecting barricades. A teenage protester was shot at close range in the chest by police but miraculously survived. Scores of others were injured and 269 people arrested.

Hong Kong’s political crisis was sparked by a now withdrawn extradition bill, which would have allowed the rendition of fugitives to mainland China for the first time. Opposition to the bill quickly grew into a democratic rebellion against the unpopular local government. Many protesters are also calling for self-determination or independence for Hong Kong.