Following months of protests since March last year, Beijing has retaliated against Hong Kong by passing a law which, essentially, removes any autonomy Hong Kong previously had.
The protests were in response to a controversial proposed extradition bill which would have allowed Beijing to extradite citizens detained in Hong Kong to be prosecuted in mainland China. Pro-democracy protesters took to the streets every day for months, even occupying Hong Kong's airport for days. The police responded forcefully, making regular use of tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannons, and there were widespread accusations of police beating up protesters.
Beijing's response was inevitable, and there have been signs of a major response throughout the protests. In October, pro-democracy candidate Joshua Wong was prevented from standing in upcoming local elections by authorities. In April, 15 pro-democracy activists were arrested by police, before the new security law was finally proposed in May. Beijing has made it very clear that they would not stand for this kind of dissidence - the Chinese State tends to not take dissent well. Tienanmen Square is the epitome of this.
The law, created behind closed doors in Beijing without consulting any Hong Kong officials, passed in China's Parliament in late May. It criminalises, among other things, secession, subversion of the Chinese state, acts determined by China to be terrorism, and collusion with foreign entities. Any activity deemed to be a pursuit of a political agenda (including disrupting transport services, as pro-democracy protesters have done), as well as acts considered a threat to public security can be regarded as terrorism. The maximum sentence is life imprisonment.
It is plain to see how these offences could be used to restrict the political freedoms of Hong Kong citizens - political opponents of the State could be easily charged just for expressing their views, for example. It is no surprise, then, that many anti-Beijing groups in Hong Kong have already disbanded for fear of detainment under the new law.
Furthermore, the bill allows China to control court cases involving public order and state secrets, by appointing judges (which will inevitably be 'sympathetic' to Beijing), removing juries and even moving a case to the mainland to be heard, with Chinese laws applying. What's more, all of this can be held behind closed doors, meaning that Beijing could feasibly arrest a political opponent in Hong Kong, before prosecuting and imprisoning them for life in mainland China without anyone knowing what has happened to them - and China has been accused of torture and even executions of political prisoners in their detention centres in the past.
Similar fates could befall those accused of providing intelligence to foreign entities, or those who work with a foreign entity to incite hate against the Chinese State. Frankly, the law is littered with vague language to describe offences like this, making it easy for bogus charges to be trumped up with little, or false evidence - police are now also allowed to search properties, intercept information and surveil suspects without a warrant, and with officers from the mainland.
The law also pushes at some USA-style educational brainwashing, promoting "national security education" in schools - it is somewhat ironic, that in what is supposed to be the greatest democracy in the world, and one of the most authoritarian regimes in the world, the children of both stand at the start of every day and pledge allegiance to the constitution and flag.
At least ten arrests have already been made by police under the new law, among many others for different offences as protesters continue to take to the streets to fight for their human rights, freedoms and democracy. Though we may not hear about them, chances are there will be many more.
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