By Chris Yeung –
When the National People’s Congress Standing Committee interpreted the Basic Law to overturn a Court of Final Appeal on a right of abode case in 1999, Ronny Tong Ka-wah, who chaired the Bar Association then, warned a “Damocles sword” was hanging over the city’s judiciary after the Government refused to ask Beijing not to do it again.
Since then, China’s top legislature exercised their power to interpret the city’s mini-constitution thrice under different situations. It did the fifth time on Monday. This time, the “sword of Damocles” was hanging over the heads of a bigger crowd. Anyone who advocate independence, self-determination or branded as “hidden pro-independence activists” could be in trouble.
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‘Damocles sword’ also shield against separatists, or kind of
