this morning to invoke the power under the Emergency Regulations

Ordinance and make a new regulation

in the name of prohibition on face covering regulation, which

is essentially an anti-mask law.

On Friday, the Hong Kong government

introduced a new law banning face masks in this city.

This was introduced using something

called the Emergency Regulations Ordinance, a colonial-era law

that is still on the books here that

gives the government the right to introduce

a whole lot of very restrictive policies and laws

into this city.

Now, it's granting the police extra powers to arrest people

and effectively pushing the police out

to do the job of governing in this city.

Now, you think about what that means.

The police force have a toolbox with effectively

one tool in it, and that tool is a mallet.

Now, in a way, you can't really blame the police

because it is the government that's

pushed them out in front.

And their increasing brutality over the last few weeks

towards protesters, towards bystanders, and even

journalists, is a natural response to the escalation

that we're seeing in this city.

It is essential for us to stop violence and restore calmness

in society as soon as possible.

Now, to a certain extent you can't really

even blame the Hong Kong government for the predicament

that we're seeing in the city today.

That's because Carrie Lam, the chief executive of the city,

does not have the power to compromise or to make

any concessions whatsoever.

That is purely in the gift of the central government

in Beijing.

The reason Chinese President Xi Jinping has no ability

to compromise is... think about it:

if you had him allowing people in Hong Kong to vote

for their leaders what would the people in Shanghai, in Beijing,

in Shenzhen say about this?

If you're Xi Jinping the possibility of backing down

in the face of violent protests is also an incredibly dangerous

thing to do.

Now, what does this all mean?

It means that almost certainly the protests

are going to escalate.

Almost certainly the crackdown is going to intensify.

And everything here is going to get worse.