Critics -- including protesters who poured onto the city's streets Sunday -- say the decision undermines Hong Kong's own legal system and further erodes promises of autonomy made before the former British colony was returned to China in 1997.

China's top ruling body, invoking a rarely used power, said Monday that anyone who refuses to read the oath should be disqualified from holding office.

"Reading the vows in any dishonest, ungraceful manner is also a refusal to the oath, and it shall be void," the ruling said, according to state news agency Xinhua.

Leung and Yao were among six young politicians, elected in a September vote that attracted record turnout, who favor greater autonomy or even independence for Hong Kong Their right to retake their oaths is being challenged by the Hong Kong government in local courts. A protester raises an umbrella sitting in front of a line of police officers outside the Chinese central government's liaison office in Hong Kong, Sunday. Police used pepper spray to disperse thousands of protesters that had gathered outside China's representative office in Hong Kong -- a symbol of Beijing's rule -- on Sunday night ahead of the ruling. Clad in black and wielding umbrellas to protect themselves, they brought to mind the pro-democracy street protests that convulsed the city for two months in 2014. China has reacted angrily to calls for Hong Kong independence, with some senior officials calling for "separatists" to be prosecuted. On Monday, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress -- China's top ruling body -- said it had "unanimously" passed its interpretation of Hong Kong's Basic Law, the document hashed out by China and the UK ahead of the handover, which is the city's de facto constitution. The ruling focuses on Article 104, which says that members of Hong Kong's Legislative Council "must swear allegiance to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) of the People's Republic of China." A protester raises a placard as thousands of people march through a downtown street in Hong Kong, Sunday. The Standing Committee has only invoked its power to interpret the Basic Law on four previous occasions, which have often drawn controversy. A top Hong Kong government lawyer, Benjamin Yu, said last week that it wouldn't be necessary for Beijing to intervene, and the issue could be handled in the city's courts. </s> Thousands of protesters on Saturday marched through a Hong Kong town to demand action against suspected triad gangs who beat up pro-democracy demonstrators last weekend.

The rally in the New Territories close to the border with mainland China went ahead despite a police ban over concerns about reprisal attacks.

Huge crowds spilled out of the town's main station and into surrounding streets where police maintained a large presence but kept their distance. Many shops were shuttered.

Some protesters chanted anti-police slogans such as "black police" and "know the law, break the law."

Public anger has been raging since last Sunday when a gang of men in white t-shirts, armed with poles and batons, set upon anti-government protesters and bystanders in Yuen Long station. Forty-five people needed hospital treatment.

Protesters say that paid gangs from the local area were responsible for the attacks and accuse the police of not protecting them. Police say they have already made a dozen arrests.

The New Territories is a more rural area of Hong Kong where many of the surrounding villages are known for links to the triad and their staunch support for the pro-Beijing establishment.

Read more: Hong Kong protests: Is the government losing control of law and order?

Saturday's rally marked the eighth consecutive week of protests in the former British colony. The demonstrations first erupted last month in opposition to plans by the local government to allow the extradition of suspected criminals to China.

The mainland's justice system is widely criticized as lacking independence and respect for human rights.

Those marches saw more than a million people take to the streets, prompting the territory's leader, Carrie Lam, to put the proposed bill on hold.

Since then, the movement has grown to include demands for direct elections, the dissolution of the current legislature, an investigation into police brutality and less Chinese interference in Hong Kong affairs.

The movement's leaders have however failed to persuade Beijing or Hong Kong's leaders to change course amid clashes with police and the storming of Hong Kong's parliament in early July by some protesters.

The United Kingdom handed Hong Kong to China in 1997 as part of an agreement that included Beijing's pledge to respect the territory's semi-autonomous status until 2047.

Each evening at 1830 UTC, DW's editors send out a selection of the day's hard news and quality feature journalism. You can sign up to receive it directly here. </s> China’s parliament passed an interpretation of Hong Kong’s Basic Law on Monday that says lawmakers must swear allegiance to the city as part of China, Beijing’s most direct intervention in the territory’s legal and political system since the 1997 handover.

The ruling is expected to bar two activist lawmakers from taking office in Hong Kong. The prospect of the ruling had sparked protests in the former British territory that returned to Chinese rule in 1997.

The official Xinhua news agency reported that China’s parliament ruled at the end of a regular bimonthly session that the pair of pro-independence lawmakers could not assume their positions in Hong Kong’s Legislative Council if they refused legal procedures when taking oath of office.

The intervention relates to Article 104 of the city’s mini-constitution, which states that lawmakers must swear allegiance to Hong Kong as part of China when they take office.

It came even before a Hong Kong court had ruled, representing some of the worst privately held fears of senior judges and some government officials in Hong Kong, according to sources close to them.

The move was expected to enrage Hong Kong democracy activists further, a day after hundreds of demonstrators clashed with police in running battles around China’s representative office in Hong Kong.

The scenes on Sunday night were reminiscent of pro-democracy protests in late 2014 that paralyzed parts of the Asian financial centre and posed one of the greatest political challenges to the central government in Beijing in decades.

Britain returned Hong Kong to Chinese control in 1997 under a “one country, two systems” formula that gave the territory wide-ranging autonomy, including judicial freedom guided by a mini-constitution called the Basic Law.

The rift between Hong Kong and Beijing has deepened since Yau Wai-ching, 25, and Baggio Leung, 30, pledged allegiance to the “Hong Kong nation” and displayed a “Hong Kong is not China” banner during a swearing-in ceremony for the city’s legislative council in October.

Leading members of China’s parliament said on Saturday the two Hong Kong lawmakers-elect had damaged the territory’s rule of law and posed a grave threat to China’s sovereignty and security.

The Hong Kong Bar Association has said an intervention by Beijing now, while a local court was hearing the case, would deal a severe blow to the city’s judicial independence and undermine international confidence in Hong Kong’s autonomy.

The oath-taking controversy made waves in the former colony, where the topic of independence from China was once regarded as taboo but has come to the fore since the pro-democracy protests in 2014 that failed to secure any concessions from Beijing. </s> Critics -- including protesters who poured onto the city's streets Sunday -- say the decision undermines Hong Kong's own legal system and further erodes promises of autonomy made before the former British colony was returned to China in 1997.

China's top ruling body, invoking a rarely used power, said Monday that anyone who refuses to read the oath should be disqualified from holding office.

"Reading the vows in any dishonest, ungraceful manner is also a refusal to the oath, and it shall be void," the ruling said, according to state news agency Xinhua.

Leung and Yau were among several young politicians elected in a September vote that attracted record turnout, who favor greater autonomy or even independence for Hong Kong Their right to retake their oaths is also being challenged by the Hong Kong government in local courts. Hong Kong's leader, CY Leung, said Monday that he would implement Beijing's decision. Newly elected Hong Kong pro-democracy lawmakers thumbed their noses at Beijing at a swearing-in-ceremony to start the legislative session on Wednesday, October 12. They displayed banners with words reading "Hong Kong is not China." Youngspiration's Yau Wai-ching told the city's Legislative Council: "I do solemnly swear that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to the Hong Kong nation," after laying out a flag bearing the words "Hong Kong is not China." Nathan Law, the city's youngest lawmaker, quoted Ghandi before making his oath. He also refused to leave the podium demanding that the Legislative Council secretary general, Kenneth Chen, explain his reasons for refusing to accept the oaths of his fellow lawmakers. Hong Kong rebel lawmakers shouted, banged drums and railed against "tyranny" on Wednesday when they took their oaths of office, as calls grow for a split from Beijing. A newly elected pro-democracy lawmaker, Fernando Cheung tears an oversized mock copy of controversial, proposed anti-subversion legislation as he takes oath on Wednesday. Lawmakers not only displayed flags declaring that Hong Kong is not a part of China but also called out for "democratic self-determination" for the semi-autonomous Chinese city at Wednesday's oath taking session. Police used pepper spray to disperse thousands of protesters that had gathered outside China's representative office in Hong Kong -- a symbol of Beijing's rule -- on Sunday night ahead of the ruling. Protesters use umbrellas to block the pepper spray from police officers. Clad in black and wielding umbrellas to protect themselves, they brought to mind the pro-democracy street protests that convulsed the city for two months in 2014. China has reacted angrily to calls for Hong Kong independence, with some senior officials calling for "separatists" to be prosecuted. On Monday, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress -- China's top ruling body -- said it had "unanimously" passed its interpretation of Hong Kong's Basic Law, the document hashed out by China and the UK ahead of the handover, which is the city's de facto constitution. The ruling focuses on Article 104, which says that members of Hong Kong's Legislative Council "must swear allegiance to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) of the People's Republic of China." A protester raises a placard as thousands of people march through a downtown street in Hong Kong, Sunday. The Standing Committee has only invoked its power to interpret the Basic Law on four previous occasions, which have often drawn controversy. Rimsky Yuen, Hong Kong's Secretary for Justice, dismissed concerns Monday that Hong Kong's judiciary had been compromised. "Both judicial independence and interpretation can coexist, and they do under our constitutional framework," he said. A top Hong Kong government lawyer, Benjamin Yu, said last week that it wouldn't be necessary for Beijing to intervene, and the issue could be handled in the city's courts. </s> Critics -- including protesters who poured onto the city's streets Sunday -- say the decision undermines Hong Kong's own legal system and further erodes promises of autonomy made before the former British colony was returned to China in 1997.

China's top ruling body, invoking a rarely used power, said Monday that anyone who refuses to read the oath should be disqualified from holding office.

"Reading the vows in any dishonest, ungraceful manner is also a refusal to the oath, and it shall be void," the ruling said, according to state news agency Xinhua.

Leung and Yau were among several young politicians elected in a September vote that attracted record turnout, who favor greater autonomy or even independence for Hong Kong Their right to retake their oaths is also being challenged by the Hong Kong government in local courts. Hong Kong's leader, CY Leung, said Monday that he would implement Beijing's decision. Newly elected Hong Kong pro-democracy lawmakers thumbed their noses at Beijing at a swearing-in-ceremony to start the legislative session on Wednesday, October 12. They displayed banners with words reading "Hong Kong is not China." Youngspiration's Yau Wai-ching told the city's Legislative Council: "I do solemnly swear that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to the Hong Kong nation," after laying out a flag bearing the words "Hong Kong is not China." Nathan Law, the city's youngest lawmaker, quoted Ghandi before making his oath. He also refused to leave the podium demanding that the Legislative Council secretary general, Kenneth Chen, explain his reasons for refusing to accept the oaths of his fellow lawmakers. Hong Kong rebel lawmakers shouted, banged drums and railed against "tyranny" on Wednesday when they took their oaths of office, as calls grow for a split from Beijing. A newly elected pro-democracy lawmaker, Fernando Cheung tears an oversized mock copy of controversial, proposed anti-subversion legislation as he takes oath on Wednesday. Lawmakers not only displayed flags declaring that Hong Kong is not a part of China but also called out for "democratic self-determination" for the semi-autonomous Chinese city at Wednesday's oath taking session. Police used pepper spray to disperse thousands of protesters that had gathered outside China's representative office in Hong Kong -- a symbol of Beijing's rule -- on Sunday night ahead of the ruling. A protester raises an umbrella sitting in front of a line of police officers outside the Chinese central government's liaison office in Hong Kong, Sunday. Clad in black and wielding umbrellas to protect themselves, they brought to mind the pro-democracy street protests that convulsed the city for two months in 2014. China has reacted angrily to calls for Hong Kong independence, with some senior officials calling for "separatists" to be prosecuted. On Monday, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress -- China's top ruling body -- said it had "unanimously" passed its interpretation of Hong Kong's Basic Law, the document hashed out by China and the UK ahead of the handover, which is the city's de facto constitution. The ruling focuses on Article 104, which says that members of Hong Kong's Legislative Council "must swear allegiance to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) of the People's Republic of China." A protester raises a placard as thousands of people march through a downtown street in Hong Kong, Sunday. The Standing Committee has only invoked its power to interpret the Basic Law on four previous occasions, which have often drawn controversy. A top Hong Kong government lawyer, Benjamin Yu, said last week that it wouldn't be necessary for Beijing to intervene, and the issue could be handled in the city's courts.
In Hong Kong, police clash with protesters after more than 10,000 locals march against the Chinese government interpretation of the Basic Law in the Legislative Council oath-taking controversy.