Hong Kong has announced its first arrests under a new security law - detaining six people for publishing social media posts which “incited hatred” against Beijing.

Five women and one man - including activist Chow Hang Tung - were arrested on Tuesday, it was announced.

Officials said the group were posting messages targeting a “sensitive date” - reported locally as the Tiananmen Square anniversary on 4 June.

If found guilty, the group could face up to seven years in prison under the harsher penalties brought in by the new law, known as Article 23.

The law, which was fast-tracked through Hong Kong’s pro-Beijing parliament in March, covers treason, sedition and state secrets, and allows for trials to be held behind closed doors.

It expands on the national security law, imposed by Beijing in 2020.

    • OccamsRazer@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      Careful not to underestimate the authoritarian left. They seemed willing to go pretty far during COVID.

      • retrospectology@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        Spreading deadly disease to others is not a right, it is an attack on the freedoms and health of others.

        • OccamsRazer@lemmy.world
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          6 months ago

          Yes well, there is always a way to justify actions you support and condemn those that you don’t support. The only way to avoid an authoritarian regime of one kind or the other is to hold certain rights to be inviolable and above the scope of government. If you give the government power to remove your rights under certain circumstances then they will create those circumstances in order to use that power. Come on, you know this. And even if was for a cause you support this time, next time it might not be.

          • retrospectology@lemmy.world
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            6 months ago

            Nope, getting vaccinated so you don’t kill others is not to do with your rights. A million Americans died because of right-wing reality denial and disinformation. That was the actual massive betrayal of other people’s rights.