The High Court in Hong Kong has ruled that the police can continue to enforce a mask ban for the next seven days, even as the government has been given time till then to file an appeal against the previous judgement which had ruled that the ban was unconstitutional. This decision of the court came on Friday.
The current protests in Hong Kong has seen many protesters wearing masks and breathing devices to hide their identity and to avoid police tear gas shells which makes it tough to respire.
Also Read: NewsMobile Explainer: The situation in Hong Kong (Special Administrative Region)
Protesters detained face an imprisonment for a term extending up to a year.
A lawyer in Hong Kong opined that protesters arrested now will have to be released later if the court upholds its previous judgement.
The protesters have been driven out of their strongholds and are facing massive human rights violations including arbitrary arrests and custodial torture.
These protests started five months back over a controversial extradition bill that sought to send individuals in Hong Kong to main land China and Taiwan to face criminal charges. This was the immediate cause that triggered the protests.
However, rising property rental prices and illegal detention and deportation of book shop owners in Hong Kong to main land China, perceived to be champions of freedom of speech and expression and displaying books against the main land were the main reasons.
Due to growing connectivity of main land China with Hong Kong, the markets in the latter were flooded with products from the former. This led to massive business losses in Hong Kong.