Security Law Aims To Crush Opposition: Dennis Kwok

Civic Party lawmaker and barrister, Dennis Kwok, said some of the arrests during July 1 protests against the new national security law, show the law is more about silencing political dissent.

He told RTHK he believes the government expects Hong Kong people to show "blind political loyalty" to Beijing.

"They have arrested those people and they have charged them as I understand with the new national security law which really is about suppressing political opposition more than national security because the person carrying a sticker in his pocket or a banner which wasn't even displayed cannot possibly endanger national security," Kwok said.

Kwok said he was worried that the law would be used to silence opposition, which would violate every principle in the Basic Law and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

He said the national security law clearly stated that the covenant still applied and should be respected, and called the legislation vague and ill defined.

Earlier, police said they arrested at least 370 people - including 10 for national security offences - on Wednesday.

They said the first person to be arrested under the national security law was a man in Causeway Bay who allegedly possessed a Hong Kong independence flag. They said they intercepted the man at about 1.30pm, but it wasn't clear which offence in particular the man was suspected of committing.

Earlier on Wednesday, Basic Law Committee member Albert Chen said that waving a Hong Kong independence flag would be a "grey area" under the new law, and would only be an offence if the bearer was involved in organising, planning, committing or participating in acts that threaten national security.