Hong Kong police made the first arrests on Wednesday under a new national security law imposed by China's central government, as thousands of people defied tear gas and pepper pellets to protest against the contentious move on the anniversary of the former British colony's handover to Chinese rule.
Police said 10 people were arrested under the law, including a man with a Hong Kong independence flag and a woman holding a sign displaying the British flag and calling for Hong Kong's independence - all violations of the law that took effect Tuesday night. Others were detained for possessing items advocating independence.
Hong Kong police said on Facebook that they arrested some 370 people on various charges, including unlawful assembly, possession of weapons and violating the new law, which was imposed in a move seen as Beijing's boldest step yet to erase the legal firewall between the semi-autonomous territory and the mainland's authoritarian Communist Party system.
Well, this did not go well with Twitterati who went on to question human rights and slammed the Chinese government.
A Twitter user said, "The Communist government of China has started slaughtering in Hong Kong. Hong Kong citizens have lost their freedom of speech because of the Chinese government. The whole world should take strict action against China."
Here's how Twitterati reacted to first arrests after the passage of the new security law;
