“We are in every corner, watching”

From the woman who waved the flag of the colonial era in the mall, to the staff of bakery products who sell pies with protest symbols – dozens of hong kong reported the police to one person for the fact that he was violated by national security.

“We are in every corner of the society, we look to find out if there is anything suspicious, what can violate the National Security Law,” says former BBC World BBC World Tang.

“If we find these things, we go and inform the police.”

When the UK returned Hong Kong to China 28 years ago, international compulsory treaties guaranteed the city’s rights and freedoms for 50 years. But the National Security Law (NSL), imposed by Beijing a year after Hong Kong protests in 2019 were criticized for confusing free speech and press, as well as because it led to a new information culture.

Law It criminalizes the activities considered by calls for the “department” (breaking away from China), “sabotage” (undermining power or government powers) and conspiracy with foreign forces.

An additional security law called article 23Voted last year, further strengthened restrictions.

With new laws and arrests was limited to reporting on Pro-Chinese Hong Kong Patriots – People who are now working and engaged in the city, as well as ordinary citizens who openly support them. But the BBC spent weeks, interviewing 60-year-old Tan, an outstanding self-designed patriot.

He and his volunteers took on screen grips from the social media of any activities or comments that, in their opinion, could disturb NSL.

He also created a hotline for the public and urged his followers to share information about people around them.

He says that nearly 100 people and organizations reported him and his followers.

“Is the reporting? We wouldn’t do it if it wasn’t,” says Mr. Tan. “Many have been opened by police … with some as a result of the prison.”

Mr. Tan says he did not investigate the alleged law himself, but simply reported the incidents who believe that he guarantees attention-describing him as “proper cooperation between a police police”.

Mr. Tan is not the only so-called patriot that is engaged in this type of observation.

Hong Kong authorities have created their own hotline of national security, receiving 890,000 councils from November 2020 to February, said the BBC City Security Bureau.

For those who are reported to the authorities, the pressure may be tireless.

Since the NSL was adopted in 2020, more than 300 people have been arrested for the crimes of the national security by February this year. And, estimated, 300,000 and more Hong Kongs have remained the city in recent years.

Pong Yat-Ming, the owner of an independent bookstore, which holds public negotiations, says he often receives inspections from state departments that refer to “anonymous complaints”.

He received 10 visits for one 15-day period, he says.

Kenneth Chan, political scientist and teacher of the university who has participated in the city pro-democratic movement since the 1990s, jokes that “these days have become a little radioactive.”

Some friends, students and colleagues are now keeping the distance from his open views, he says. “But I would be the last person who blamed the victims. It’s a system.”

In response, the Hong Kong government stated that it “attaches great importance to the maintenance of academic freedom and institutional autonomy.” But this adds that academic institutions “are responsible for their activity to be in line with the law and correspond to the interests of the community as a whole.”

Iness Tan says he is motivated to tell people the love of Hong Kong, and that his views on China were cultivated when he was young when the city was still a British colony.

“The colonial policy was not really so big,” he says. “The best opportunities have always been provided by the British, and we (locals) did not actually have access.”

Like many of his generations, he brought up longing to be combined with China and taken out of colonial control. But he says many other Hong Kongri at the time were more concerned with their existence than their rights.

“Democracy or freedom. All these were very abstract ideas that we really didn’t understand,” he says.

The average citizen should not participate too much in politics, explaining that he became politically active to restore what he calls “balance” in Hong Kong society after the 2019 turbulence.

He says voice, he says because he calls the “silent majority” of Hong Kong, who do not support independence from China, and about the disruption created by protests.

But other Hong Kong is considering rallies and demonstrations of a long -standing tradition, and one of the united ways to voice public opinion in a city that does not now have a completely democratically chosen leadership.

“We are no longer a city of protests,” says Kenneth Chan, who specializes in Eastern Europe. “So what are we? I don’t have the answer yet.”

And patriotism is not inherently a negative business, he says.

He claims that “it is” value, perhaps even virtue “, although it must allow citizens to maintain a” critical distance ” – what does not happen in Hong Kong.

The electoral reform was advanced in 2021 – stating that only the “patriots” who “swore loyalty to the Communist Party of China” could hold important positions in the government or the Legislative Council (LEGCO).

As a result, the council is fighting for functioning, it suggests that China’s commentator, based in Hong Kong, Lew Mont Hung, a former member of the Chinese Advisory authority, CPPC.

“The public thinks that many of these patriots are” verbal revolutionaries “or political gadgets – they do not actually represent people,” he says.

“That is why inappropriate policy is still going with a huge majority. There is no one to restrain and not resist, not carefully studied.”

Even Patriot Iness Tan says he wants to see how the modern system is challenged.

“I do not want to see every policy that runs with 90% of the vote,” he says the BBC.

There is a danger that the national security law will be armed and people say, “If you do not agree with me, I accuse you of violating the National Security Law.”

“I disagree with this type of things,” says Mr. Tan.

The Hong Kong government said: “Improved nail now gets rid of extremists who want to interfere and even paralyze the work of the government, does not intend to enter the constructive dialogue to present the interests of all Hong Kong people.”

While, says Mr. Tan, he stopped informing people. According to him, the balance and stability returned to Hong Kong.

The number of large -scale protests has decreased to anyone.

In the academic sciences, the fear of observation – and how life may change for those who violate the laws – means self -censorship and censorship, “says Kenneth Chan.

The pro -democratic parties are no longer represented in the Legislative Council, and many dissolved – including the Hong Kong Democratic Party, once the most powerful party.

Now Inessa Tan was aiming abroad.

“Now in Hong Kong there are no specific problems, so I asked myself – should I see how I can continue to serve my community and my country?” he says.

“For such non -political and civilian as I am, this is an invaluable opportunity.”

He now works as a representative for one of several non-profit groups that Pra-Biekin regularly visits the UN in Geneva to speak at the Convention, giving China’s prospect to Hong Kong, human rights and other issues.

D -tan is also in the process of creating a media company in Switzerland and registration as a member of the press.

For Kennet Chan in Hong Kong his future hangs in equilibrium.

“A third of my friends and students are now in exile, a third of my friends and students are in prison, and I kind of … in a suspended state,” he says.

“Today, I talk to you freely … Nobody promises me that I will continue to do the rest of my life.”

In a written response to the BBC, the Hong Kong Government Press stated that national security is a top priority and inherent right of any country. It “focuses only on the extremely small minority of people and organizations that threaten national security while protecting life and property to the general public.”