Hongkongers urge Suella Braverman to reconsider ‘repressive’ anti-protest bill

Hongkongers residing in Britain want UK home secretary Suella Braverman to reconsider the controversial measures in her public order bill that they believe pose a threat to their right to protest. In a letter sent to Braverman, they said that the measures are similar to the repressive ways used to crack down on democratic opposition back home.

The letter describes them as “repressive measures that threaten to paralyse entire social movement”. Hongkongers also won't be able to stage any kind of protests, including against Chinese communist repression in Hong Kong.

The letter was sent by Democracy for Hong Kong, a group that has been responsible for organising protests in Britain, including activists at the centre of opposition activism in Hong Kong.

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“Many of us are, or represent and work with, Hongkongers who have recently arrived in the UK in the hopes of a better life for ourselves and our loved ones – where we can exercise our rights and freedoms without fear,” the letter, sent on behalf of groups and communities comprising Hongkongers and east and south-east Asian people, says.

The letter raises serious concerns about two aspects of the bill - serious disruption prevention orders (SDPOs) and stop and search.

“In effect, SDPOs appear to be a kind of open-air prison for people simply seeking to exercise their rights,” they claimed in the letter. This was mentioned in reference to the new civil orders that threaten to ban named individuals, including those who have never committed a crime, from protesting. Curfew conditions will also be imposed on them, they will be restricted from using the internet in certain ways and might also be expected to submit to GPS tagging.

The conditions that let someone be given an SDPO “echo the dangerously broad and indeterminate national security law that has resulted in many protesters in Hong Kong being imprisoned, some potentially for life”.

The public order bill will go through report stage in the House of Lords on Monday. Campaign group Liberty says that the bill has gone through several amendments to give police more powers to stop protests.

(With inputs from agencies)

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