Hong Kong court ousts four lawmakers

HONG KONG — In a decisive blow to Hong Kong’s democracy movement, a local court removed four elected legislators on Friday (July 14), heightening concerns over what is believed to be interference by Beijing in Hong Kong’s affairs.


The ruling means pro-democracy activists will no longer have enough votes to block legislation from pro-Beijing lawmakers, assuring China greater influence over Hong Kong’s government at least until by-elections are held.

More than 1,000 people protested near government offices at night in response to the announcement.

The removal of the lawmakers — Mr Nathan Law, Ms Lau Siu-lai, Mr Leung Kwok-hung and Mr Edward Yiu — came after the Chinese government took the extraordinary step in November of blocking two separatist politicians from taking office in the legislature of this semi-autonomous region, ostensibly because they inserted anti-China snubs into their oaths of office.

Beijing intervened by issuing a legal interpretation of the city’s mini-constitution: that legislators who deliver an oath in an “insincere or undignified manner” must be barred from office and not be given a chance to do it again.

The Hong Kong government, relying on the new interpretation, then sought to remove four more legislators from office, and on Friday the High Court declared their seats vacant, arguing they had failed to take the oath properly.

Hong Kong’s newly-elected chief executive, Carrie Lam, who has vowed to build a stronger relationship with the opposition, said she would not intervene in the case, however.

“Building bridges still has to be done in a lawful way,” she told Reuters in an interview.

“I don’t think this chief executive, or any government official, should compromise on the rule of law just because we want to be friendly. But I’m sure the judicial process will go on.”

Concerns China is squeezing Hong Kong have sparked calls by some activists for self-determination or even independence for the city, angering Beijing.

The dismissed legislators were not staunchly pro-independence but at least two of them have advocated self-determination for Hong Kong.

Friday’s decision comes two weeks after Chinese President Xi Jinping warned any challenge to Beijing’s control over Hong Kong crossed a “red line” when he visited the city to mark 20 years since it was handed back to China by Britain.

The judgement also dealt a further setback to democracy activists, who are already reeling from criminal charges over their roles in street protests in 2014 and low participation in an annual march for democracy this month.

Mr Law’s party Demosisto condemned “the manifest interference of the Beijing government to cripple Hong Kong’s legislative power”.

While Mr Law, 24, said: “Suppression is not scary. “The most scary thing is that people get used to it and are not willing to come out, to fight.”

Mr Law, a leader of the 2014 Umbrella Movement protests demanding freer local elections, had begun his oath saying he would “never serve a regime that murders its own people” and read the Cantonese word for “China” with an upward inflection, as if asking a question. He was the youngest person ever to win a legislative seat in an election that had a record voter turnout.

“By adopting a rising intonation, Mr Law was objectively expressing a doubt on or disrespect of the status of the People’s Republic of China as Hong Kong’s legitimate sovereign country,” the judgment said.

The three other legislators who were unseated had delivered their oaths with various displays of defiance, including by reading it extremely slowly, inserting words calling for democracy and displaying props.

Mr Law said that his removal would cause long-lasting political and financial damage, since Demosisto, the party he founded with his fellow activist, Joshua Wong, was funded in part by his salary. “We might have to fire some people,” he said. AGENCIES