Hong Kong pro-democracy lawmakers to resign en masse

Hong Kong's pro-democracy opposition lawmakers have decided to resign in protest against the dismissal of four of their colleagues from the city assembly after Beijing gave local authorities new powers to further curb dissent. The Chinese parliament adopted a resolution earlier in the day allowing the city's executive to expel legislators deemed to be advocating Hong Kong independence, colluding with foreign forces or threatening national security, without having to go through the courts.Shortly after, the local government announced the disqualification of four assembly members who had previously been barred from running for re-election as authorities deemed their pledge of allegiance to Hong Kong was not sincere.

"We can no longer tell the world that we still have 'one country, two systems, this declares its official death," Democratic Party chairman Wu Chi-Wai told a news conference which started with all opposition lawmakers holding hands. Opposition members of the city assembly say they have tried to make a stand against what many people in Hong Kong see as Beijing's whittling away of freedoms and institutional checks and balances, despite a promise of a high degree of autonomy.

China denies curbing rights and freedoms in the global financial hub. The city government said in a statement the four legislators - Kwok, Alvin Yeung, Dennis Kwok and Kenneth Leung - were expelled from the assembly for endangering national security. "We could not allow members of a Legislative Council who have been judged in accordance with the law that they could not fulfil the requirement and the prerequisite for serving on the Legislative Council to continue to operate," she said.Shortly after the disqualifications, China's representative office in the city said Hong Kong had to be ruled by loyalists.