(AP Photo/Vincent Yu, File)HONG KONG โ Hong Kong police arrested 53 former lawmakers and democracy proponents Wednesday for allegedly violating the new national security law by participating in unofficial election primaries for the territory's legislature last year.
The security law criminalizes acts of subversion, secession, terrorism and collusion with foreign powers to intervene in the cityโs affairs.
โThe Biden-Harris administration will stand with the people of Hong Kong and against Beijingโs crackdown on democracy,โ Blinken wrote in his tweet.
The security law is being used โto crush dissent and stifle the exercise of human rights and political freedoms.โHuman Rights Watch senior China researcher Maya Wang said the national security law is a blanket law that allows the government to arrest people for exercising their rights.
โHong Kong is looking more like mainland China but where one ends and the other begins is hard to discern,โ she said.