HONG KONG • Hong Kong police are investigating a campus protest over suspected violations of a security law imposed by China, fuelling growing concerns about curbs on freedom of expression in the city.
The Hong Kong Police Force's newly established national security department has begun probing reports that protesters advocated independence from China during a demonstration at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) on Thursday.
Protesters "displayed banners and flags, and chanted slogans advocating Hong Kong independence", and vandalised the campus with spray paint, the police said.
"Police attach great importance to and severely condemn the blatant violation of the national security law and criminal damages at the campus," the police said.
On Thursday, graduating students - many in ceremonial black robes - held up banners calling for Hong Kong independence and criticising the government.
Other students donned Guy Fawkes masks - made popular by anti-establishment protesters and by the film V For Vendetta - and gas masks. They also carried umbrellas that have become symbolic of Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement in recent years.
Some hung a banner reading "Revolution is an obligation" from a nearby cliff.
China's top legislative body imposed the measure banning secession, terrorism, subversion and collusion with foreign forces on June 30 without debate by local lawmakers.
While Chief Executive Carrie Lam has sought to play down limits on constitutionally guaranteed freedoms of speech and expression, the government has invoked the law to ban support for Hong Kong independence or slogans such as "Liberate Hong Kong! Revolution of our times!".
The legislation has spurred a debate about academic freedom at the city's universities.
The CUHK campus was among those that became scenes of tense and sometimes violent stand-offs between protesters and police last year during a wave of protests.
The university said it called the police on Thursday to report the protest, which it said disrupted a solemn graduation ceremony.
"The university strongly condemns such illegal acts and irresponsible behaviour," it said, urging student leaders to inform their peers about the legal risks of such activities.
The police unit that enforces the law has so far made 29 arrests. Most of them involve allegations like chanting slogans, waving banners or publishing online material deemed secessionist.
Protests have largely dissipated with Covid-19 social distancing measures and the introduction of the security law.
Still, small groups of activists have occasionally gathered in malls or on the streets.
Earlier this week, three former lawmakers were arrested in connection with a protest in the Hong Kong Legislative Council against a law criminalising criticism of China's national anthem.
BLOOMBERG
