National Security Law Hotline is Red Hot

The police force has launched its new hotline on the NSL

 

It's here! The new hotline to give the police tips on anyone who may have violated the national security law is up and running as of today, and by 6pm, the force had already received more than 1,000 pieces of information.

The WeChat hotline had technical glitches today

Members of the public can use either SMS, email or WeChat to give the police any tips, such as photos, audio and video clips. The force has also set up a new account on Twitter and added such hashtags as #WeCanHelp, #YouCanHelp, and #SaveHK.

The hotline only deals with national security law-related offenses, such as collusion with foreign forces, terrorism, secession and subversion.

Opposition lawmakers say the hotline will have a chilling effect on society and only create more distrust in the community.

The Democratic Party's Lam Cheuk-ting described it as "Cultural Revolution 2.0", where people can snitch on others for being less than patriotic.

"Nowadays, Hongkongers already have the feeling that one can easily get blamed for whatever one does, and that one can easily step on a political landmine," he said. "The hotline will only intensify the chilling effect in the society."

Lam says the hotline is "Cultural Revolution 2.0"

It is somewhat amusing the hotline on WeChat was plagued by technical issues. One reporter tried to use it only to encounter many difficulties and in the end received messages saying "Too many attempts. Try again later."

So far 22 men and six women have been charged under the new law that was enacted over four months ago.