HONG KONG: Hong Kong's high court on Friday removed four opposition lawmakers from the city's legislative assembly after it invalidated their oaths of office.

The former British colony, which became a Chinese territory 20 years ago under a "one country, two systems" arrangement, is guaranteed a wide range of freedoms not enjoyed in China, including a direct vote for half of the 70-seat legislature.

But activists say the city government's efforts in disqualifying democratically elected lawmakers is a direct assault to those freedoms. </s> Hong Kong's high-court has ruled in favor of expelling four opposition lawmakers from the city's legislature in a case that critics say calls the territory's independence into question.

Prominent opposition figure "Long Hair" Leung Kwok-hung, who was sworn in last October, is among the lawmakers ordered removed by the Court of First Instance for modifying the oath of office. He was accused of adding words to his oath and for reciting the oath in a tone that "expressed a doubt on or disrespect of the status of the [People's Republic of China] as a legitimate sovereign of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region," according to the court. Nathan Law Kwun-chung, Lau Siu-lai and Edward Yiu Chung-yim also lost their seats in the Hong Kong Legislature.

Two other opposition lawmakers had previously been expelled.

The South China Morning Post writes that the latest expulsions have "wide implications on the bargaining power of the democratic bloc" in the legislature. "This could give the pro-Beijing camp a chance to change the lawmaking body's game rules, making their rivals unable to filibuster contentious bills," the Post writes.

The removal of the four legislators comes barely two weeks after the territory marked the 20th anniversary of the end of a century and a half of British rule.

At the time of Hong Kong's handover to Beijing in 1997, London had sought to build in some elements of democratic rule, including a partially-elected legislature and the eventual open election of the territory's leader. However, China has gradually asserted more authority in the governance of the territory.

At the anniversary of the handover earlier this month, Chinese leader Xi Jinping warned Hong Kong residents not to cross a "red line" by challenging Beijing's authority.

Xi's remarks followed a crackdown on dissent that began with the quashing of pro-democracy protests in 2014, and last month authorities in Hong Kong charged nine involved in leading the mass protests known as the Umbrella Movement. </s> Hong Kong’s high court on Friday removed four opposition lawmakers from the city’s legislative assembly after it invalidated their oaths of office. A former British colony, Hong Kong became a Chinese territory 20 years ago under a “one country, two systems” arrangement that guaranteed a wide range of freedoms not enjoyed in China, including a direct vote for half of the 70-seat legislature. But activists say the city government’s effort in disqualifying democratically elected lawmakers is a direct assault on those freedoms.

Hong Kong’s newly-elected chief executive, Carrie Lam, who has vowed to build a stronger relationship with the opposition, said she would not intervene in the case, however. “Building bridges still has to be done in a lawful way,” she told Reuters in an interview. “I don’t think this chief executive, or any government official, should compromise on the rule of law just because we want to be friendly. But I’m sure the judicial process will go on.”

Hong Kong lawmakers Nathan Law, Lau Siu-lai, Leung Kwok-hung and Edward Yiu added words to their oaths, read slowly or changed their tone of voice to express “a doubt on, or disrespect of, the status of the People’s Republic of China as a legitimate sovereign of the Hong Kong Special Adminisitrative Region,” the court said in a summary of its ruling.

For all the latest World News, download Indian Express App </s> HONG KONG — Nearly three years after sweeping pro-democracy protests filled the streets of Hong Kong, a local court delivered the struggling movement a severe blow on Friday, removing four legislators from office and assuring China greater influence over the city’s government.

The pro-democracy lawmakers were dismissed from the Hong Kong Legislative Council because they had used unacceptable words or even dubious tones in taking oaths of office that require declarations of loyalty to China. The ruling means that democracy advocates in the semiautonomous city’s legislature will no longer have enough votes to block legislation from their pro-Beijing counterparts.

“Voters entrusted us with the task of monitoring the government,” said Leung Kwok-hung, one of those unseated. “We’ve lost that power.”

Hong Kong has been rattled by episodes that have raised fears that China is reaching deeper into the city to enforce its will. A bookseller who sold lurid titles about China’s leaders was abducted and taken to mainland China. Xiao Jianhua, a prominent billionaire who grew up in China, was snatched from a high-end hotel and brought to the mainland. </s> The four legislators in question -- Nathan Law, Lau Siu Lai, Edward Yiu and Leung Kwok-hung, known among locals as "Long Hair" -- were elected to the Hong Kong Legislative Council, known locally as LegCo, last year.

All four used their oaths of office to protest attempts by Beijing to exert more control over internal affairs in Hong Kong, which has been an increasing concern of citizens in the city since the Chinese took control 20 years ago.

Though part of China, Hong Kong is a Special Administrative Region that enjoys far more freedom than cities in the mainland.

But locals worry that China is clamping down on this bustling metropolis of more than 7 million, violating the governing principle of "one country, two systems."

All four disqualified lawmakers were involved in the Occupy movement of 2014, when thousands took to the streets to demand democratic reforms --- including the unsuccessful demand that the city's leader, the Chief Executive, be directly elected by the people of Hong Kong. Democracy activists had hoped the more subdued swearing-in protest meant the lawmakers wouldn't be penalized. Their ejection robs the pro-democracy movement of its majority in the portion of Hong Kong's legislature that's democratically elected (some seats are appointed), and its ability to wield veto power over some key legislation. That effectively changes the balance of power in the entire legislature, according to Antony Dapiran, a Hong Kong-based lawyer and author who's just written a book about dissent in the city. "It's pretty bad for rule of law in Hong Kong when you see the courts being used to kick out democratic lawmakers like this," Dapiran told CNN. "Hong Kong can no longer pretend to (be) any kind of democracy." Demosisto, the political party which counts Law and activist Joshua Wong among its members, called the decision the "worst assault on our democracy." "More than 180,000 voters had their voices silenced in the legislative body. Demosisto condemns the manifest interference of the Beijing government to cripple Hong Kong's legislative power," the group said in a statement. "In light of manipulation of election results by Beijing, it is more important than ever for Hong Kong to stay strong and firm against the autocracy." About 2.2 million people voted in the September 2016 elections, according to the Electoral Affairs Commission, with a turnout of 58% -- up from 53% in 2012. Hong Kong does not allow postal voting or early voting. Hong Kong votes: Is this the world's weirdest election? Law -- at 23, the youngest person ever elected to be elected to LegCo -- Lau, Yiu and Leung vowed to appeal any decision to remove them from office. Six lawmakers used their oaths of office to protest Chinese authoritarianism last year. Two lawmakers who are advocates of Hong Kong's independence from China -- Yau Wai-ching and Sixtus "Baggio" Leung -- were ousted after swearing and insulting China during their oaths. Baggio Leung wears a flag reading "Hong Kong is not China" during his oath-taking ceremony While Law, Yau, Yiu and Leung's oaths were initially accepted by the LegCo president, Yau and Baggio Leung's were not. The pair was due to retake their oaths, but Hong Kong government officials sued to prevent them being sworn-in again, arguing they had forgone their opportunity. Before the court could rule, the Chinese central government employed its rarely-used power to re-interpret Hong Kong's constitution to bar Yau and Leung from being sworn in. That decision opened the door for Beijing to use the courts to influence Hong Kong's elections, using minor infractions as a way to eliminate opposition lawmakers, said Dapiran.

"It effectively created a new law from scratch, instituting new legal requirements that weren't there before," he said. "Beijing is effectively dictating who is allowed to run and who is allowed to be elected, and that's no longer a democracy." </s> Hong Kong protesters have seized parliament chambers. In what can be seen as a mob breaching security, hundreds of protesters, who have been reported to have spray-painted the chambers – breached the glass doors to make their way into the chambers on Monday.

Inside the legislative council, dozens of protesters are seen making their way through the chambers wielding umbrellas, in what has been described as defacing the city’s legislative council building.

The Hong Kong Free Press reports that protesters spray-painted the walls with graffiti requesting that the chief executive Carrie Lam step down. They claim the government has left them no choice but to revolt and oppose Chinese colonialism. Pictures of legislative council members Andrew Leung and Rita Fan have been defaced by the disgruntled protesters.

For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android. </s> Three young leaders of the democratic movement in Hong Kong were sentenced to prison for six to eight months on Thursday, Reuters reported. While 20-year-old Joshua Wong was jailed for six months, Nathan Law was given eight-months prison time and Alex Chow received seven months in prison.

The three were found guilty of unlawful assembly last year, after which they were sentenced to community service. However, the Hong Kong Department of Justice had applied for a review, arguing that the punishment was too lenient.

Wong, Law and Chow have also been barred from participating in local elections in the next five years. The order is a blow to the semi-autonomous city’s struggle for larger political freedom from China and suffrage.

Wong became a prominent face of the student-led democracy movement when he was 17, Reuters reported. Law, who had become Hong Kong’s youngest ever elected legislator, was sacked from his seat last month. Wong spearheaded the “Umbrella Movement”, gathering thousands of protestors, demanding democracy.

Following the verdict, Wong tweeted, “Imprisoning us will not extinguish Hongkonger’s desire for universal suffrage. We are stronger, more determined, and we will win.” </s> Two Hong Kong independence advocates elected to the local legislature will not be allowed to retain their seats after a three-judge panel upheld an earlier ruling.

The rejection of an appeal made by Yau Wai-ching, 25, and Sixtus “Baggio” Leung, 30, who were elected to the Legislative Council in September, is the latest chapter in a weeks-long political firestorm, and comes after a heavy-handed intervention by Beijing, which is implacably opposed to separatism.

The High Court judges found unanimously that the two had, in effect, declined to take their oaths of office when they turned their inaugurations into a political demonstration. At the ceremony on Oct. 12, both Yau and Leung unfurled banners that stated that Hong Kong was not part of China, and departed from the prescribed oath by pledging allegiance to the “Hong Kong Nation” instead of Hong Kong as a Special Administrative Region of China.

“There is therefore no question of allowing them to retake the [Legislative Council] Oath,” wrote Justice Andrew Cheung in the ruling, adding that the vacation of their offices was “automatic.”

Neither Yau nor Leung showed up to hear the ruling, which comes after the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPCSC), China’s rubber-stamp legislature, found against them in early November — at the same time as their actions were the subject of a judicial review brought by the Hong Kong government.

“As critics we can argue that it was improper for the NPCSC to intervene in a pending case but we could not expect the Court of Appeals to challenge that decision,” Michael Davis, a former law professor at the University of Hong Kong, tells TIME by email. The NPCSC, he says, “essentially foreclosed any chance the court would side with the two legislators.”

Both Yau and Leung were among the fresh faces elected as part of a local backlash against Chinese encroachment on the semiautonomous territory’s freedoms, and have been under constant attack from loyalist forces for the manner in which they attempted to take their oaths. Business in the chamber has ground to a halt for weeks as a result.

The burgeoning Hong Kong independence movement has meanwhile attracted the fury of the Chinese state. Speaking on Nov. 11 in Beijing, President Xi Jinping said, “All activities that intend to divide the country will certainly be firmly opposed by all Chinese people. We will never allow any one, any organization, any party to split off any tract of territory from China anytime, or in any way.”

On Tuesday, China’s top lawmaker, National People’s Congress chairman Zhang Dejiang, declared that “Hong Kong independence would bring calamity to the nation and its people.”

The High Court said Wednesday that it would hear applications for Yau and Leung’s appeal to the territory’s ultimate court, the Court of Final Appeal, on Thursday morning.

Contact us at editors@time.com. </s> Hong Kong, Jun 12 (ANI): The Legislative Council meeting, during which a debate on the controversial Chinese extradition bill was supposed to be held, has been rescheduled to a "later time" by the President of the Legislative Council.

This comes as swathes of anti-bill protesters have blocked major roads leading to the Legislative Council building, forcing police to use pepper spray to disperse the crowd.

"Under Rules of Procedure 14(3), the President of the Legislative Council has directed that the Council meeting of June 12 scheduled to begin at 11 am today be changed to a later time to be determined by him. Members will be notified of the time of the meeting later," CNN reported while quoting an official statement.

Lawmakers were slated to hear a second reading of the bill along with holding a debate on it during the meeting which is now rescheduled. 5,000 police personnel in anti-riot gear have sealed all entrances of the complex, around which the protests are being held.

The contested bill, which was proposed on April 3, has been defended by the region's pro-Beijing leader, Chief Executive Carrie Lam.

"This is a very important piece of legislation that will help to uphold justice and also ensure that Hong Kong will fulfil her international obligations in terms of cross-boundary and transnational crimes," Lam said previously.

The protests took a violent turn on Monday as several hundred protesters clashed with police around Hong Kong's parliament.

Ignoring the huge public backlash, Lam said her administration had already made major concessions to ensure that the city's unique freedoms would be protected and that the bill's human rights safeguards met international standards.

"I and my team have not ignored any views expressed on this very important piece of legislation. We have been listening and listening very attentively," she said.

Calls for her resignation have been rampant throughout the protests against the document which was proposed on April 3.

Critics believe that the bill will leave anyone on Hong Kong soil vulnerable to being grabbed by the Chinese authorities for political reasons or inadvertent business offences, according to Al Jazeera.

They further reasoned that the newly framed extradition plan would dissolve the rights and legal protections, which were guaranteed under the city's handover from British colonial rule to Chinese sovereignty in 1997.

The vast majority of the protesters is made up of young people of high school or university age. Multiple pro-independence groups, including localist political party Youngspiration, are amongst those protesting today. The party, along with Hong Kong Indigenous, started the protests on Tuesday night.

Several appeals have been made for peaceful protests, with the leaders from the Civil Human Rights group urging demonstrators to "not confront police."

The respective governments of countries like UK, USA, Singapore, Thailand and Taiwan have issued travel advisories to their citizens in the wake of the protests.

Many observers have likened the latest demonstrations to the 2014 mass democracy protests, which have come to be known as the 'Umbrella Movement'. Several protesters can be seen holding umbrellas, much like the 2014 protests when the agitators used them as a tool to protect themselves from tear gas and pepper spray deployed by the police. (ANI)
Four lawmakers are removed from the Hong Kong legislature.