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Added on the 19/11/2019 03:40:49 - Copyright : AFPTV - First images
Dozens of Hong Kong protesters escape a two-day police siege at a campus by shimmying down a rope from a bridge to awaiting motorbikes in a dramatic and perilous breakout that followed a renewed warning by Beijing of a possible intervention to end the crisis engulfing the city. Clashes rumbled throughout the day between protesters and police who had threatened to use deadly force to dislodge activists holed-up in the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU). IMAGES
Chung Pui-kuen, the former chief editor of Hong Kong's now shuttered pro-democracy news outlet Stand News, arrives at Wanchai District Court ahead of a ruling in a landmark sedition trial. It's the first case of its kind since the city came under Chinese rule in 1997. IMAGES
Two men accused of assisting Hong Kong's intelligence services appear at London's Old Bailey court for a hearing, days after a third man, former Royal Marine Matthew Trickett, 37, was found dead in what police say are unexplained circumstances. The three men were charged with assisting a foreign intelligence service and with foreign interference, in violation of the 2023 National Security Act. IMAGES
The United States denounces Hong Kong's ban on a protest song sung by pro-democracy demonstrators, saying it further tarnishes the financial hub's reputation. "The decision to ban this song is the latest blow to the international reputation of a city that previously prided itself on having an independent judiciary protecting the free exchange of information, ideas and goods," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller tells reporters. SOUNDBITE
The US says it is "alarmed" after Hong Kong legislators fast-tracked a new national security law that introduces penalties such as life imprisonment for crimes related to treason and insurrection, and up to 20 years in jail for the theft of state secrets. "We believe that these kinds of actions have the potential to accelerate the closing of Hong Kong’s once open society," US Department of State deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel tells reporters during a press briefing. SOUNDBITE