From South China Morning Post

Thousands of anti-government protesters returned to the streets on Wednesday under the new reality of a sweeping national security law imposed by Beijing.

Police had banned the annual July 1 rally for the first time since the city’s 1997 handover to Chinese rule, citing the threat of violence as well as Covid-19 pandemic rules against large public gatherings. But the protesters openly defied the restrictions, playing cat and mouse with police across Causeway Bay and Wan Chai, shouting slogans in defiance of the new law and ignoring police warnings that they could be arrested under it. Radicals among them blocked roads, set fire to debris, attacked police and vandalised shops.

Police arrested 370 people, 10 of them using their newly acquired powers for the first time under the new law.

Seven officers were injured in clashes with radicals. One of them was stabbed in the arm after he was set upon by a mob after becoming separated from his colleagues while chasing after a suspect outside the Central Library. The man accused of stabbing the officer fled the scene but was later arrested in a dramatic police operation as he was trying to leave the city for London on board a Cathay Pacific flight.

With the new law now in force and the protest movement still belligerently defiant, the weeks and months ahead could see plenty of drama and turbulence.

SCMP will keep you up to date with the latest developments.

GO TO: National security law