Opposition Politicians Claim Block On Their Candidacies

Wires reporting that 12 opposition pro-democracy politicians have claimed that they have been blocked from running in the elections to the Legislative Council, scheduled for September 6.

• Reuters and TVB have carried the story, with prominent individuals in pro-democracy politics and protests Alvin Yeung, Kwok Ka Ki, Dennis Kwok, Lester Shum, Cheng Tat-hung, Tiffany Yuen and Ventus Lau all confirming on social media that they have been barred from running.
• The ban comes after the imposition of a new national security law which has been criticised by pro-democracy activists as a break on the 'one country, two systems' political environment in Hong Kong.
• Hong Kong gov't issues statement saying that as the individuals would not pledge allegiance to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region gov't they "could not genuinely uphold the Basic Law [which now includes the national security legislation] and could not therefore perform the duties of a LegCo Member".