The Hong Kong government plans to invoke emergency powers to ban the use of masks during protests in a move that foreign diplomats and some politicians warned could hit the city’s economy.
Amid concerns that tensions are set to escalate sharply after the city’s months of demonstrations claimed their first shooting victim this week, Hong Kong’s leader Carrie Lam will put the proposal to ban masks to a cabinet meeting on Friday, two people familiar with the matter said on Thursday.
Read also: Hong Kong protester shot as violent clashes escalate
The move to invoke the colonial-era Emergency Regulations Ordinance was necessary to help end four months of violent protests in the Asian financial hub, “otherwise the only option to restore order is Chinese intervention”, said one of the people familiar with the matter.
The government and the office of Ms Lam, who has yet to publicly address concerns over this week’s unrest, did not return a request for comment.
Pressure is mounting from proBeijing groups and the police for the government to take a harder line on the protests after pro-democracy demonstrations to mark China’s national day on Tuesday descended into fierce street battles across Hong Kong.
Police fired on an 18-year-old student as he attacked them with a pole in an incident that overshadowed national day festivities in Beijing, where China’s President Xi Jinping held the country’s biggest military parade.
The injured student, Tsang Chikin, was charged on Thursday with rioting and assaulting an officer, crimes that carry up to 10 years and two years in prison respectively. He remains in a stable condition.
The proposed anti-mask law is aimed at stopping protesters from using surgical masks and other face covers to avoid being identified by police and surveillance cameras.
The person familiar with the matter said Ms Lam had held off invoking emergency powers because she feared this would harm the international image of Hong Kong, one of Asia’s premier capital-raising centres.
