A general #timeline of Beijing's 40 days' national security law legislation for HK:
May 21: NPC pre-opening presser announced the resolution to strengthen the legal system and enforcement mechanism for safeguarding national security in HK was on agenda
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May 22: NPC deputy chairman Wang Chen gave a report to the congress on the draft resolution.
May 23: Vice premier Han Zheng received HK's delegates to Beijing and said the law would only target an extremely small number of people.
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May 28: The resolution was passed in NPC with 2,878 supporting votes, 1 opposing vote and 6 abstention votes. Premier Li Keqiang talked briefly about the law at the NPC closing presser. Public security minister Zhao Kezhi vowed to "instruct" HK police on quelling unrest.
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June 3: HK's leader #CarrieLam, SJ Teresa Cheng, SfS John Lee and police chief Chris Tang visited Beijing to submit their "opinions" on the national security law. Lam said there was no need for her to convey opposing voices.
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June 15: Deputy director of the HK Macau Affairs Office Deng Zhonghua said at a semi-official forum that Beijing would reserve jurisdictions over certain national security cases in HK.
June 18-20: NPC Standing Committee convened to scrutinize the bill. Xinhua published...
...an "explanatory memo" on some of the bill's articles in the evening of June 20, revealing that Beijing would set up a national security agency in HK, appointing an advisor to HK's own national security committee, and no HK law can contravene the national security law.
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Xinhua's explanatory memo also included that special teams of police, prosecutors and judges will be set up in HK, which gave #CarrieLam the power to select judges for national security cases. The arrangement sparked heavy criticism from the city's legal sector.
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June 21-27: HK officials and Beijing loyalists - except for the city's sole rep in NPCSC Tam Yiu-chung - continued to lead the cheering on a law that they never saw the full terms.
June 28-30: NPC Standing Committee convened for a second time in two weeks to scrutinize...
...the bill, hearing reports from Shen Chunyao, the NPCSC's legal work committee head and Li Fei, the NPCSC's constitution and law committee head. Xinhua reported at noon on June 29 that bill is finalized and ready for vote, two days ahead of the 23rd anniversary of HK's handover
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#BREAKING HK top court ruled in favour of journalist @Baochoy’s appeal , quashing all her conviction and fines as the court found “there was no reason that bona fide investigative journalism … should be excluded from the phrase ‘other traffic and transport related purpose’.”
Choy was found guilty of “making false statement” 2 years ago for choosing the purpose of “other traffic and transport related matters” on the application form for car owner info from public registries controlled by the Transport Dept.
Choy’s search was for her award winning investigative report on #721YuenLongAttack in 2019. The application form then provided only 3 purposes for applicants after an amendment to remove the open-ended “other:” column in Oct 2019.
Tsui Hon-Kwong, veteran member of disbanded #HongKongAlliance - the group who hosted candlelight vigil for #June4 for three decades in HK, was taken away by police. He kept upholding his candle for #TiananmenMothers until police shut the door.
A man whose phone torch was on was taken away by police after a search. An officer snatched his phone as a group of officers escorted him into the search zone.
At a point people were lined up to wait for police search.
#BREAKING League of Social Democrats leader #ChanPoying was taken away minutes after she showed up with a small candle for #TiananmenMothers and two yellow flowers. She resisted and tried to uphold what she had in hands.
Heard LSD’s Chan Po-Ying said “why must police station? I don’t mind here.” before police bundled her into a police car.
Truck driver turned activist To Chi-kuen was taken away by police. He apparently carried nothing with him except wearing a tee that says “I don’t want to remember but I dare not to forget”.
#JUSTNOW This woman was taken away by police after a search. Not immediately clear what triggered the search. She upheld a small card with the Chinese characters “conscience” during the search. She wore a yellow mask, a black tee, a yellow skirt, and yellow socks with “Hong Kong”
“Going to a police station. Going to Wan Chai Police Station,” the woman shouted as police bundled her away.
A woman surnamed Cheung and in all black outfit was searched and let go by police. She told reporters police didn’t specify what made her suspicious and only checked her ID and bag. She took the search rather easy, “everyone knows what day is it today.”
#thread
On the protest-annulled Labour Day in HK, leftist party League of Social Democrats and the Women Workers Association would have small group petitions separately outside the government HQs to advocate for labour rights.
Before the 1st group LSD arrived , some 20-30 officers were seen deployed nearby with at least two holding a video camera to record the petition.
When Chan Po-ying, chairwoman of LSD arrived, an acting sergeant from the central police precinct read out an 8-point “reminder” to her. The points will be laid out in English translation from the next tweet.