Around 90 protesters were arrested in Hong Kong on Sunday as they held protests condemning the postponement of the legislative elections.
The elections, originally scheduled to be held on Sunday, are one of the few times Hong Kong residents get to cast ballots.
China’s hand-picked Hong Kong leader, Carrie Lam, announced in late July that the city’s election would be postponed for a year, because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The move was widely seen as a blow to the pro-democracy camp, which was widely expected to do well in the election.
The poll would have been the former British colony’s first official vote since Beijing imposed the new security legislation in late June, which critics say aims to quash dissent in the autonomous region of China.
Anti-government protests have been held in Hong Kong almost every weekend since June 2019. They erupted over opposition to a proposed extradition law and spread to include demands for greater democracy and criticism of Beijing’s efforts to tighten control over the city.
Riot police shot rounds of pepper balls at protesters Sunday, Reuters reported. Hong Kong police wrote in a Facebook post that 90 people had been arrested, mainly for gathering illegally.
Though smaller and less frequent than in 2019, protests for democracy and independent in Hong Kong have continued despite concerns about the coronavirus pandemic, particularly after China passed a new security law in June, further diminishing rights of the semi-autonomous city.
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