(Bloomberg) — Hong Kong will announce a ban on face masks at public gatherings by invoking the Emergency Regulations Ordinance after a special meeting of the city’s Executive Council on Friday, local news channel TVB reported, citing people it didn’t identify.
The move comes shortly after a protester was shot in violent demonstrations that once again shook the city on Oct. 1, as President Xi Jinping celebrated 70 years of Communist party rule in Beijing. Some pro-China lawmakers in Hong Kong had called on Wednesday for a ban on wearing masks at public gatherings, a move aimed at stopping protesters from hiding their identity from police officers.
The unrest began in June in opposition to a since-scrapped bill that would have allowed extraditions to mainland China, but has since expanded to include calls for an independent inquiry into police violence and greater democratic accountability in the former British colony.
To contact the reporter on this story: Iain Marlow in Hong Kong at [email protected]
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Brendan Scott at [email protected], Daniel Ten Kate
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