Hong Kong police say they have made more than 300 arrests during protests against the controversial new Chinese security laws.

 

Demonstrators chanted slogans like “resistance to the end” and “independence for Hong Kong”. Cops fired tear gas and used pepper spray.

In the metropolis, thousands of people had taken to the streets during the anniversary of the transfer of the British crown colony to China on July 1, 1997.

At the time, Beijing promised that Hong Kong would receive special status for 50 years, but critics say the principle of “one country, two systems “increasingly undermined.

Residents of the metropolitan city repeatedly took to the streets en masse last year to express their displeasure. Those protests were an eyesore for Beijing.

China has now enacted a security law that activists say is vague. Therefore, critics say the legislation could be widely applied to target opponents of the communist rulers.

Police have been told, according to a source of the South China Morning Post newspaper, that anyone calling for Hong Kong’s independence can be arrested under the new legislation.

Agents are alleged to have been told, among other things, that flags and banners with slogans related to revolution and independence are now illegal.

Of the more than 300 people who have been arrested, nine are said to have been detained on suspicion of violating the new security law.