Hong Kong pro-democracy lawmakers resign after China ruling
All of Hong Kong's pro-democracy lawmakers have announced their resignation after Beijing forced the removal of four of their colleagues.
On Wednesday Beijing passed a resolution allowing the city's government to dismiss politicians deemed a threat to national security.
The opposition lawmakers then said they would leave in solidarity.
For the first time since Hong Kong was handed back to China in 1997 the body has almost no dissenting voices.
BBC China correspondent Stephen McDonnell says the legislature was already stacked in favour of the pro-Beijing camp.
The dismissal of the four legislators is viewed by many as the latest attempt by China to restrict Hong Kong's freedoms – something Beijing denies.
Democratic Party chairman Wu Chi-wai told reporters following the lawmakers' removal: “We can no longer tell the world that we still have ‘one country, two systems', this declares its official death.”
Hong Kong – formerly a British colony – was returned to China under the “one country, two systems” principle, which allowed it to retain more rights and freedoms than the mainland until 2047.
But in late June China passed a controversial, far-reaching national security law in the territory after years of pro-democracy and anti-Beijing protests, which reduced Hong Kong's autonomy and made it easier to punish demonstrators.
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