Ezra Cheung Profile picture
News reporter at @SCMPNews. Words also seen in @NBCNews, @NikkeiAsia, @nytimes, @CNN, @AFP, etc. Total foodie, tea-sipper. Went to Bruce Lee’s primary school.
Jul 28, 2022 4 tweets 2 min read
#BREAKING: A horrible accident erupted as a Hong Kong singing and dancing boy band was hosting their first concert, injuring at least two dancers. Both were said to be conscious when being sent to the hospital. #BREAKING: Hong Kong’s leader has ordered authorities to investigative after 2 dancers performing with Canto-pop boy band Mirror were struck by a fallen screen during the show. One performer in serious condition in intensive care, suffering neck injuries. scmp.com/news/hong-kong…
Jul 28, 2021 6 tweets 1 min read
The Wednesday victory of Olympic silver medallist Siobhán Haughey has revealed the very essence of Hong Kong’s decades-long success: openness, pluralism and meritocracy. It doesn’t matter if one is of Chinese descent or European origin. It’s about whether one works hard enough. Instead of Hong Kong, the 23-year-old could have chosen to represent Ireland, which definitely puts more focus on athlete development. Yet, she insists on Hong Kong, saying in Cantonese: “I was born in Hong Kong, and live in Hong Kong......
Mar 5, 2021 5 tweets 2 min read
#BREAKING: Beijing will give the “Hong Kong Chief Executive Election Committee the new power to nominate all candidates for Legislative Council members and directly elect some members to the legislature,” Wang Chen, the National People’s Congress Standing Committee vice-chairman. Instead of the 35:35 balance between the Legislative Council’s geographical and functional constituencies, the overhaul will adopt a new 20:30:40 proportion and divide the legislature into three components, pro-Bejing media HK01 reported. hk01.com/article/595515
Mar 4, 2021 4 tweets 1 min read
#BREAKING: Beijing is planning to increase the number of seats for the Hong Kong Chief Executive election committee from 1,200 to 1,500, and the Hong Kong Legislative Council from 70 to 90 seats, local news outlet Now News cites sources. #HongKongProtest “The development in recent years show that the electoral system needs to be improved to keep abreast with the times and......
Sep 23, 2020 14 tweets 4 min read
#THREAD: As a Hong Kong freelance journalist, I’d like to say something other in-house journalists may not dare say due to their code of conduct. Forgive me for being sentimental tonight. But it is important, as today, Sept 23, marks the darkest day for Hong Kong’s #PressFreedom. Today is the first day when the new definition of media representative is applied to the police protocol. The new definition disavows credentials from the city’s most acclaimed journalists’ unions the HK Journalists Asso. and the HK Press Photographers Asso.
Aug 27, 2020 6 tweets 2 min read
One of the 12 illegal border-crossers arrested by China on Aug 23 appeared to be Andy Li, a defendant arrested under the national security law: @RFA_Chinese. Mr Li was arrested the same day media mogul Jimmy Lai @JimmyLaiApple was arrested. He is now detained by Guangdong police. Radio Free Asia continues that Andy Li, together with the 11 passengers, went aboard on the Kwo Chau Islands in Hong Kong. Meanwhile, other sources reveal that their destination was the Kinmen Islands, a Taiwanese enclave opposite to the Chinese Fujian province.
Aug 10, 2020 4 tweets 3 min read
#BREAKING: Hong Kong pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai is arrested for colluding with foreign powers, a crime under the national security law. Seven are arrested in total: sources, including Cheung Kim-hung, ex-chief editor of Apple Daily @appledaily_hk . #HongKongProtests Jimmy Lai, who is a UK citizen, is handcuffed and and escorted to a van. Arrested for alleged foreign collusion, he is so far the highest-profile arrested after national security law was inserted by Beijing. Police says he is also arrested for committing fraud. #HongKongProtests
Aug 7, 2020 11 tweets 5 min read
#BREAKING: The US is sanctioning 11 Hong Kong and Chinese officials, including Carrie Lam and Chris Tang, because of their direct involvement of the national security law legislation and human rights violation. Bloomberg @business also reports that. #HongKongProtests The (former) Hong Kong officials include Carrie Lam, Teresa Cheng, John Lee, Chris Tang, Eric Chan, Stephen Lo, Erick Tsang. #HongKongProtests
Jul 31, 2020 9 tweets 3 min read
#BREAKING: Hong Kong chief executive, Carrie Lam, announces to delay the upcoming legislative election, which was scheduled for September 6, citing the unceasing #coronavirus outbreak. Describing the delay as a "very difficult decision" to make, Mrs Lam has once again invoked the colonial-era Emergency Regulations Ordinance. The last time this ordinance was applied was in early October last year when the chief executive attempted to ban masks in protests.
Jul 30, 2020 5 tweets 2 min read
#BREAKING: Pro-democracy activists Lester Shum and Tiffany Yuen and politicians Alvin Yeung, Dennis Kwok, Tat Cheng and Kwok Ka-ki are barred from contesting in the upcoming legislative election, local media report, and as many as 12 people are disqualified. #HongKongProtests Hong Kong govt says in a statement that it supports the decisions made by returning officers about the mass disqualifications of pro-democracy activists, citing that contestants must “uphold the Basic Law (BL) and pledge allegiance to the HKSAR of the People's Republic of China”. Image
Jul 29, 2020 8 tweets 3 min read
#BREAKING: Confirmed by several local media, Tony Chung, convener of the disbanded pro-independence group Student Localism, is arrested for conspiracy to invite others to commit secession. Chung is the first known arrest over the newly national security law. #HongKongProtests Several local media have also reported that the arrest was made by the police national security division, but not agents from the Committee for Safeguarding National Security. Messages circulating on Telegram also say another convenor of the group Ho Lok-hang was also arrested.
Jul 27, 2020 4 tweets 2 min read
#BREAKING: Hong Kong govt forbids dine-in services at restaurants, the toughest curb so far to control #coronavirus. The ban will start at midnight on Wednesday (July 29) until August 7. Recently, the city has seen a three-digit rise in the number of confirmed cases daily. The social gathering restriction will also be limited to two people, said Hong Kong chief secretary Matthew Cheung. To date, 20 people died because of #coronavirus infection in Hong Kong. Most of them were elderlies.
Jul 20, 2020 6 tweets 2 min read
#BREAKING: UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab announces to halt Britain's extradition treaty with Hong Kong after Beijing inserted the national security legislation to the city on June 30. He describes the anti-measure as a “reasonable and proportional response”. #HongKongProtests “We won’t consider reactivating those arrangements unless and until there is clear, robust safeguard, which can prevent extradition treaties from being misused,” Mr Raab says. He also puts an arms embargo in place together with the abrupt change in the extradition arrangement.
Jul 15, 2020 5 tweets 2 min read
Just in: US President, Donald Trump, has issued a executive order to address the status of Hong Kong after Beijing inserted the new national security law in late June. #HongKongProtests Image Trump may make into policy to suspend or eliminate different and preferential treatment for the city to protect the US’s national security, foreign policy, and economic interest.
Jul 1, 2020 6 tweets 4 min read
#LIVE: It is Hong Kong’s historic moment. As police raise this flag indicating protesters could be arrested for secession/subversion under the new national security law, the city is experiencing a new era where speech can be criminalised/even sentenced for life. #HongKongProtests Image #BREAKING: A man was found having a “Hong Kong independence” flag in his bag as being stopped and searched by the police in Causeway Bay. He’s become the first person arrested for violating the new national security law since it was enacted for about 14 hours. #HongKongProstests Image
Jun 30, 2020 8 tweets 4 min read
#BREAKING: The national security law imposed by Beijing gazetted. In force immediately, the widely-disputed law is deemed by many to further squeeze Hong Kong people’s liberty. Many organisations have disbanded afterwards. #HongKongProtests
gld.gov.hk/egazette/pdf/2… One of the characteristics is this law is its overarching scope. Article 38 says this law is also applicable to non-Hong Kong permanent residents. If they violate the law outside Hong Kong, they can be held justiciable. #HongKongProtests
Jun 30, 2020 4 tweets 4 min read
#BREAKING: China’s parliament have unanimously passed to impose the new national security law that is believed to further muzzles freedoms among Hong Kong people. So far, no clause has been revealed to the public. #HongKongProstests At the same time, pro-democracy activists, including @joshuawongcf and @chowtingagnes, have announced to opt out of @demosisto, the political party their co-founded in wake of such a legislation. The resignations didn’t come unexpected, but still surprising.
Jun 20, 2020 5 tweets 2 min read
#BREAKING: China’s director of legal affairs commission details the new national security laws in Hong Kong, signalling the loss of final adjudication in trials regarding violation of such crimes in the city. #HongKongProtests Image The draft bill doesn’t forbid judges with foreign nationality to hear those cases, but it stipulates that Hong Kong’s chief executive can designate judges from local courts to sit those trials. Meanwhile, “National Security Committee” has to be set up to handle such matters.
Jun 4, 2020 8 tweets 5 min read
#LIVE: Defying explicit police ban due to the #coronavirus outbreak, scores of people flow into Victoria Park, known as the only stronghold on Chinese soil to mourn the 1989 Tiananmen Sq. crackdown. Though, it is still unclear how the police will react. #HongKongProtests The Hong Kong govt says a PA system: “Pursuant to the prevention and control of dieease, prohibitions of group gathering regulations chapter 599G, group gathering of more than 8 people is not allowed in this venue. Offenders are subject to prosecution.” #HongKongProtests
May 27, 2020 5 tweets 4 min read
#LIVE: It is the first weekday protest since the #coronavirus outbreak in Hong Kong. As it is the controversial national anthem law 2nd reading today, people once again chant #antiELAB slogans en masse. But it is now unclear how the protest will flare out today. #HongKongProtests “Hongkongers, build our new nation,” participants chant aloud. It is not a new slogan though. But it has apparently been more widely accepted by protesters, especially those who are not considered Hong Kong localists.
May 24, 2020 7 tweets 5 min read
#LIVE: Today, Hong Kong sees one of the biggest protests since the #coronavirus outbreak. Hundreds have effectively defied the social distancing restrictions the Hong Kong govt has enacted, to rally against the national security draft bill Beijing bring forward. #HongKongProtests A replica of the Venus de Milo statue has been put on display on the street. No one is here to explain the idea of the art piece. But Venus de Milo is a symbol of western civilisation. And it is now blindfold by red tape representing the Communist Party. #HongKongProtests Image