One of the leaders of Hong Kong’s protest movement has stepped down from his post after China passed a new national security law targeting the territory.
Joshua Wong, who was the secretary-general of a pro-democracy group called Demosisto, resigned early Tuesday, and the group will be disbanding.
“I hereby declare withdrawing from Demosisto. … If my voice will not be heard soon, I hope that the international community will continue to speak up for Hong Kong and step up concrete efforts to defend our last bit of freedom,” Wong announced on Twitter.
I hereby declare withdrawing from Demosisto…
If my voice will not be heard soon, I hope that the international community will continue to speak up for Hong Kong and step up concrete efforts to defend our last bit of freedom. pic.twitter.com/BIGD5tgriF
— Joshua Wong 黃之鋒 ? (@joshuawongcf) June 30, 2020
In another tweet, Wong called the new law the “end of Hong Kong.” He further implied that a video from China’s Hong Kong military garrison showing snipers training for combat, reportedly in Hong Kong, was a warning to protesters.
[End of Hong Kong, Beginning of Reign of Terror]
1. #Beijing has just passed the sweeping #nationalsecuritylaw. It marks the end of Hong Kong that the world knew before. pic.twitter.com/QouY6Itr1O
— Joshua Wong 黃之鋒 ? (@joshuawongcf) June 30, 2020
“On the road, we will meet again, Hong Kong people, see you on the streets,” Demosisto wrote in a roughly translated post on Facebook.
Wong, however, is encouraging his followers to have faith. Just a few hours after announcing he would be stepping down, Wong posted the Bible verse Psalm 23:4, which reads, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.”
Wong has long been one of the most outspoken voices insisting that Hong Kong retain its freedoms. In 2014, a series of protests called the Umbrella Movement took place in the territory. Tens of thousands of protesters would sit together, occupying the streets, using umbrellas to protect them from the tear gas and pepper spray used by police officers in attempt to disperse them. Wong was considered by many to be the face of that movement. In 2017, he was sentenced to six months in prison for his part in it.
While many of the specifics of the security law are unclear as its full text has not yet been released, it will criminalize acts such as subversion, separatism, and collusion with foreign entities. The law will also allow China to set up its own security force within the territory to implement the new rules.
“Those who have stirred up trouble and broken this type of law in the past will hopefully watch themselves in the future,” Tam Yiu-chung, Hong Kong’s representative to China’s Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress said. “If they continue to defy the law, they will bear the consequences.”
Protests came to a head last year as China attempted to pass a bill that would have allowed it to extradite citizens of Hong Kong to the mainland for trial.
Hong Kong was, for many years, a British-occupied territory. In 1984, the United Kingdom signed an agreement to transfer sovereignty over Hong Kong back to China in 1997 provided that China allow Hong Kong to retain its autonomy for another 50 years after that.
British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has urged China to “step back from the brink,” and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has proposed allowing citizens of Hong Kong a pathway to citizenship in the U.K.
