Exclusive | Anti-mask law targeting Hong Kong protesters could come into force by midnight on Friday, as government considers invoking emergency powers
- Executive Council to discuss possibility of giving police power to demand anyone wearing a mask in public removes it
- Breaking law could result in person being sent to jail for up to a year, but pro-establishment groups want that to be 10 years
A new law banning people in Hong Kong from wearing masks at public assemblies could come into force as early as midnight on Friday, a government source told the Post.
As authorities struggle to control the increasingly violent civil unrest that has gripped the city for months, another source previously told the Post breaking the law would result in a prison sentence of up to a year, or a fine of HK$25,000.
The Executive Council, the city leader’s de facto cabinet, was expected to discuss the matter on Friday morning, and members were also likely to discuss whether to introduce a law allowing police to demand people wearing a mask in public remove it, if officers suspect that person is trying to hide their identity.
The special meeting came as Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor decides whether to impose the anti-mask law through legislation by invoking a tough, colonial-era emergency law that has not been used in more than half a century.
“The Security Bureau provides two provisions in the draft,” the source said. “The second one suggests giving officers the power to demand anyone to remove their mask in a public place, regardless of whether the person is engaged in an assembly.
“Wearing the mask for medical and religious reasons could be exempted. But as long as officers suspect the wearer does so just to hide their identity, police can demand the removal of the mask, or else the person could be subject to arrest and a six-month jail term if convicted.”
