'Protest Camp' Vows To Oppose Security Law

Sixteen winners of the opposition camp’s primary poll vowed on Wednesday to keep fighting against the new national security law ‘no matter what’ – despite warnings from Beijing that the election last weekend may already have broken the new legislation banning subversion, secession, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces.

The group of mostly young activists – who have dubbed themselves as ‘the protest camp’ – are hoping to help secure a majority for pro-democracy forces in September’s Legislative Council election.

But the entire primary exercise has come under a scathing attack from Beijing, with the liaison office branding the poll as ‘illegal’ and conducted with support from unspecified ‘foreign forces’.

One of the primary winners, activist Joshua Wong, who had previously been barred from running in district council elections over his political stance, warned of possible repercussions if Legco hopefuls are prevented from running in the September poll.

"If Beijing try to disqualify more candidates, they need to pay the price, not only in the local community but also in the global community," Wong said.

He said the new law is the main reason why Beijing is coming up against so much international opposition.

"No matter what happened we'll still continue [to] let the voice of Hongkongers be heard around the world”, Wong said.

He also said that President Donald Trump's signing of the Hong Kong Autonomy Act showed that Beijing's actions will backfire on them, and that it was time for the central government to recognise that they "broke the promise of the Sino-British joint declaration".

Wong said: "Eroding the freedom of Hong Kong should not be the way out, otherwise more and more action might be taken by world leaders in the future.”

And, despite some tensions with the traditional pan-democrats – many of whom the 'protest camp' defeated in the primary – Wong called for 'dialogue and discussion'.

"With the crackdown from Beijing, we have no room and any chance for fragmentation. It’s time for us to enhance solidarity and unity", he said.

The 16 are hoping to discuss with the traditional pan-democrats whether they should sign a confirmation letter to plead allegiance to the SAR as required.

Other members of the protest camp include lawmaker Chu Hoi-dick, district councillor Tiffany Yuen, and activists Sunny Cheung and Ventus Lau.