HK politician: Lam using law like 'WMD'

The mask ban that took effect from Saturday applies to people at illegal gatherings who use violence and exempts those who wear masks for legitimate need.

Hong Kong: A pro-democracy lawmaker said a decision by Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam to ban protesters from wearing masks amounted to a "weapon of mass destruction."

Claudia Mo, a member of the Hong Kong Legislative Council, told that the ban was just a starter. There are more main courses coming in.

Mo remarked this particular emergency law would be a WMD, weapon of mass destruction that would make Hong Kong coming under the dictatorship of Carrie Lam who's nothing but a puppet of Beijing.

Lam on Thursday banned protesters from wearing masks in a hardening of the government’s stance on the territory’s most disruptive crisis since it reverted to Chinese rule in 1997.

She announced the ban at an afternoon news conference where she decried the escalation of violence recently after four months of anti-government demonstrations.

The mask ban that took effect from Saturday applies to people at illegal gatherings who use violence and exempts those who wear masks for legitimate need.

However, International observers concerned that Lam's use of the Emergency Ordinance last invoked more than 50 years ago, which could lead to harsher measures that would limit free expression in the semi-autonomous Chinese territory.

Hong Kong's embattled leader meanwhile insisted the new measure banning masks at rallies was not a move toward authoritarian rule or at the behest of the Chinese government which signalled its approval shortly after she implemented the toughened response to quell four months of increasingly violent protests.