How Far Hong Kong’s Emergency Law Can Go (Online Too)

Escalating violence in Hong Kong, including the shooting of an 18-year-old protester, has led the city’s leader to invoke a colonial-era law -- still on the books -- to try to quell months of unrest with a ban on face masks. Many protesters flouted the ban, which a court has ruled unconstitutional. However, the powers the ordinance, similar to martial law, grants go much further, from curfews to confiscations to censorship. The law could be cited to authorize the blocking of messaging apps or websites favored by protesters or even to disrupt internet service entirely in the Asian financial hub, a prospect one trade group official called “worse than having the Chinese army come in.”

The Emergency Regulations Ordinance, introduced by the British in 1922. It hadn’t been used in more than half a century, but can be invoked in case of emergency or public danger. It affords the chief executive (as Hong Kong’s post-colonial leaders are called) the power to make “any regulations whatsoever which he may consider desirable in the public interest.” Its provisions include arrests, property seizures, deportation, control of the ports and transportation -- and censorship.