Photo/Illutration A sea of colorful umbrellas fills a street in Hong Kong on Aug. 18, 2019, as protesters hold a peaceful march. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

It was raining in Hong Kong on the afternoon of that particular day.

The city's parks and streets were filled with umbrellas of all colors as an estimated 1.7 million Hong Kong residents protested the administration's polices on Aug. 18, 2019.

No major clashes occurred between protesters and police as the demonstrators marched peacefully.

Anyone who witnessed the event in the former British colony is aware of that fact.

But a Hong Kong court has ruled that those who organized or participated in the march deserved to be punished because they went ahead without obtaining permission from the authorities.

The court meted out harsh penalties April 16 to leading pro-democracy advocates, including media tycoon Jimmy Lai, handing them prison terms of up to 18 months for organizing or joining the protest rally.

The punishments are obviously aimed at intimidating critics of the government into silence and amount to political suppression. This is unacceptable.

More than 10,000 people have already been arrested in connection with antigovernment protests that flared in 2019 over a bill that would have allowed criminal suspects to be extradited to mainland China. The city’s democracy movement lost many of its leaders as they fled Hong Kong or were detained.

The semiautonomous Chinese territory’s legislative elections scheduled for this September have been postponed to December.

The Hong Kong administration said the poll had to be put off again to make amendments to laws to accommodate changes to Hong Kong’s electoral system that China unilaterally announced in March. This is the second such postponement. The election was originally slated to be held last September.

These discretionary changes of an election date by the authorities run counter to the very purpose of the democratic process, which is to give the voting public an opportunity to make their voices heard.

The planned overhaul of the city’s electoral system seems intended to make it difficult for pro-democracy activists to run for elections, let alone get elected.

As part of the changes, a new screening committee will be set up to review the qualifications of candidates for office in Hong Kong. Members of the panel, who will be appointed by Hong Kong’s chief executive, will screen candidates on the basis of information provided by China’s national security authorities.

Observers expressed fears that the committee’s decisions toward specific candidates will take into account any past remarks and actions by the individuals that were critical of China.

Hong Kong’s administration also announced a new ordinance that provides for criminal punishment against organized efforts to call on voters to cast blank ballots or boycott elections.

Beijing seems to be bent on suppressing all expressions of opinion that could lead to criticism against the government.

Lai, the founder of Hong Kong’s Apple Daily tabloid, was sentenced to 14 months in prison. In a letter Lai sent from prison to the daily’s staff, he stated that the situation in Hong Kong has become even harsher and said, “The era is falling apart before us and it is, therefore, time for us to stand tall.”

People around the world are deeply concerned about the way in which Hong Kong is being stripped of its freedom. Its democratic principles have been brutally violated by an authoritarian and violent government crackdown against the pro-democracy movement.

It is time for an international coalition to protest the continuing suppression in Hong Kong. The international community should keep speaking up without giving up hope.

--The Asahi Shimbun, April 17

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