Hong Kong leftist jailed by Britain now fears Beijing’s law

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Hong Kong, June 30 (AFP/APP): Jailed without trial when Hong Kong was a British colony, former underground communist Lau Man-shing says he fears a new generation of dissidents could suffer a similar fate once Beijing imposes its new national security law.

Now 91, Lau was among a group of prominent dissidents held in an unofficial detention facility by Britain during leftist riots that swept Hong Kong in 1967.

At the time Lau was a loyal supporter of China’s Communist Party and a committed anti-colonial activist.

Five decades on, he yearns for democracy, convinced the city’s inhabitants swapped one authoritarian master for another after the 1997 handover to China.

“Many people used to believe the promise made by Beijing that Hong Kong will gradually and eventually get universal suffrage,” Lau told AFP.

“But Beijing is asserting more and more control over Hong Kong and is wielding the greatest force to suppress opposing voices.”

Faced with growing popular unrest, Beijing on Tuesday imposed a sweeping security law on Hong Kong, according to local media reports

In an unprecedented move, the anti-subversion legislation was written in Beijing, bypassing semi-autonomous Hong Kong’s legislature.

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