Hong Kong leader defends emergency measures as city goes quiet

(Image credit: MOHD RASFAN/AFP via Getty Images)

last updated 5 October 2019

The subway and most shopping malls were closed in Hong Kong on Saturday, as the city reportedly fell "eerily silent" amid an unprecedented shutdown after the government invoked emergency measures to stifle political unrest.

Earlier in the day, hundreds of anti-government protesters defied a ban on face masks and marched in the streets, but by evening they had reportedly dispersed. However, there are reportedly plans for bigger marches Sunday.

Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam defended the emergency measures, which were implemented when Lam invoked the colonial-era Emergency Regulations Ordinance for the first time in more than 50 years. She criticized and blamed the protesters for the "horribly violent incidents" that occurred during Friday demonstrations, which erupted after the face mask ban was announced. During the Friday protests, police shot a teenage boy, and protesters reportedly torched businesses and metro stations.

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Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.

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