High-profile activists are among 12 pro-democracy candidates disqualified by the Hong Kong authorities from elections in September.
The BBC reported that the disqualified were ‘deepening political tensions in the Chinese territory’.
It said opposition legislators had hoped to obtain a majority in the Legislative Council (LegCo) in September’s poll after Beijing’s imposition of a highly controversial national security law.
Disqualified candidates include high-profile activists Joshua Wong and Lester Shum.
Hong Kong authorities said the candidates were not fit to run for office. They could not be considered to be abiding by the constitutional duty required of lawmakers if they advocated for, or promoted, Hong Kong’s independence; solicited intervention by foreign governments in Hong Kong’s affairs; expressed ‘an objection in principle’ to the imposition of the national security law by central authorities in Beijing; or expressed ‘an intention to exercise the functions of a LegCo Member by indiscriminately voting down’ any legislative proposals introduced by the Hong Kong government, ‘so as to force the government to accede to certain political demands’.
The Hong Kong government said the decision was taken in line with Hong Kong’s mini-constitution, the Basic Law.
It said: ‘There is no question of any political censorship, restriction of the freedom of speech or deprivation of the right to stand for elections as alleged by some members of the community.’
However, one of the disqualified candidates, Joshua Wong – who rose to prominence as a teenage activist during protests in 2014 – said the decision showed ‘a total disregard for the will of Hongkongers’ and ‘tramples upon the city’s last pillar of vanishing autonomy’.