Two protesters were charged Monday with violating Hong Kong’s new ban on wearing masks at rallies, a move likely to add to a backlash that has thrown the semiautonomous Chinese territory into deeper crisis. A conviction under the mask ban is punishable by up to a year in prison and a fine. Hong Kong’s High Court has rejected a second effort to invalidate the mask ban but agreed to hear later this month an application by 24 legislators against Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam’s use of the colonial-era Emergency Regulations Ordinance to impose the ban without legislative approval. Lam has said that the mask ban will make the identification of rioters easier for police and that other measures are possible if violence continues. Lam has said she will seek the legislature’s backing for the mask ban when it meets next on Oct. 16.

Source: Los Angeles Times October 07, 2019 04:41 UTC