The Emergency Regulations Ordinance was introduced by the British in 1922 after wildcat strikes and it allows the governor (now chief executive) to make “any regulations whatsoever” in the event of an emergency or imminent public danger. Any. Regulations. Whatsoever
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It allows the gov’t to completely bypass Hong Kong’s parliament, the Legislative Council. You can see why HKGovt might find this attractive. These protests began because they tried to push the loathed extradition bill through Parliament despite huge peaceful rallies.
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LegCo was besieged & heavily vandalised on July 1. It’s pretty clear any attempt to pass anti-protest legislation through parliament would once more make the building a target and reinvigorate the protest movement.
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But if she uses ERO, chief executive Carrie Lam can just order a mask ban — and pretty much any other law she deems fit. It would be a huge precedent setting move.
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The last time ERO was invoked was ‘67. HK’s protests this year are huge, disruptive & becoming more violent. But they’re still not a patch on ‘67.
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More than 50 people were killed over the course of a year as leftists (with the help of People’s Militia from mainland) conducted a widespread bombing & murder campaign.
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Public opinion pretty quickly swing against the leftists (who had legit grievances to begin with) after two kids were killed by a bomb and then an anti-communist radio commentator was burned alive in his car. Shops were also burned, looted etc.
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The Brits invoked the ERO. Police were granted special arrest powers, and significant censorship was invoked, with leftist papers/radio banned etc. It certainly helped end the movement.
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Even if HKGovt begins with a soft ERO invocation, it’s a huge step. And the impact it would have on Hong Kong’s international reputation as a “rule of law” based finance and legal hub would be interesting, to say the least.
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Finally would a face mask ban even work? Since the 2003 SARS outbreak, surgical masks have become ubiquitous in HK. Almost everyone has one in their bag. A stop and search would net quite a few people, many of whom wouldn’t be protesters.
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But it might give police more room to make pre-emptive arrests, granting them even more powers than they already have under the fairly broad stop & search powers.
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Ukraine tried to ban masks during the 2014 revolution and it definitely didn’t work. More people started wearing them. A lot of Hong Kong’s protesters have studied Ukraine (Winter of Fire is repeatedly shown at gatherings).
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HKers have already shown they’re willing to flout the law in huge numbers, whether it’s attending an unlawful gathering, shouting insults at police or throwing Molotovs, bricks etc.
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My guess is protesters would simply ignore a mask ban. But by then the precedent-setting step of invoking the ERO would have been made & there would be little reason for HKGovt not to use it again. The descent down the slippery slope would have begun.
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