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Hong Kong police use national security law for first time to block access to website recording anti-government protests, officers’ details
- Sources say the force has started asking internet providers to halt access to HKChronicles citing Article 43 of the law and its implementation rules
- Chief editor Naomi Chan says HKChronicles began receiving reports from users they had not been able to access the site since Wednesday evening
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Hong Kong police have invoked the national security law for the first time to block a local website dedicated to publishing first-hand accounts of the anti-government protests in 2019 and the personal details of officers and pro-Beijing figures, the Post has learned.
Sources said the force had started asking internet service providers (ISPs) to halt access to the HKChronicles website citing Article 43 of the law and its implementation rules. Officers can order ISPs to block access to electronic information deemed likely to constitute a crime endangering national security.
The commissioner of police can authorise officers to do so upon the approval of the secretary for security. They both sit on the Committee for Safeguarding National Security, which is chaired by Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor.
“The service providers could bear legal liability if they fail to comply,” a source said.
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China defends Hong Kong’s arrest of opposition lawmakers and activists under national security law
China defends Hong Kong’s arrest of opposition lawmakers and activists under national security law
The website has saved huge amounts of information, articles, photos and videos related to the social unrest, which erupted in June 2019 over a now-withdrawn extradition bill and later morphed into a wider anti-government movement.
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