Today’s events take the veil off the charade for all to see. The NPCSC is increasingly exercising direct “comprehensive control” over Hong Kong. At its two previous sessions it declined the opportunity to take direct action...1/n https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3109330/top-beijing-body-makes-patriotism-mandatory-hong-kong?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=share_widget&utm_campaign=3109330

...against the four LegCo members, leaving it to the HKG to handle the matter. Apparently there was some resistance. So now the NPCSC, again using its exceptional secretly-prepared Blitzkreig attack, has ordered the HKG to act and the HKG has immediately fallen...2/n

...into public line. By using this tactic, the Xi Jinping regime precludes the possibility of any meaningful attempt by HK’s democracy supporters to challenge this latest outrage in the courts. So much for the pro-Beijing supporters’ endless assurances that the HK courts...3/5

...can be relied upon to exercise their independence to protect “One Country, Two Systems”. The unprecedented mass resignation of all the 19 remaining democratic LegCo members is the appropriate, if sad, response. 4/5

I wonder how the 19 will now spend their energies and whether they will remain free to do so, and how many will remain in HK. 5/5