Riot police deploy pepper spray as protesters rally against the new national security law in Hong Kong on Wednesday. Photo: Dale De La Rey/AFP via Getty Images
Hong Kong police announced on Wednesday their first arrest under the new security law as officers used pepper spray to break up a rally by pro-democracy protesters elsewhere in the city, images from the scene show.
Why it matters: The law, passed by Chinese lawmakers Tuesday, is a further encroachment on Hong Kong's independent legal system and the autonomy the territory had retained since the former British colony was returned to China in 1997.
Per Axios' Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian and Dave Lawler, the law "defines crimes such as terrorism and sedition broadly, but mandates harsh sentences — in many cases life imprisonment."
- It'll be enforced without input from the judiciary.