
HONG KONG -- Amid continuing controversy over the Hong Kong government's move to invoke emergency powers to enact a ban on masks, a top administration adviser said the law introduced a month ago has significantly cut the number of hard-core demonstrators.
"The intensity [of protests] may have hardened, but the overall number [of protesters] has dropped significantly," said Bernard Chan, convener of the Executive Council, the top-level advisory body for Chief Executive Carrie Lam, in an interview with Nikkei Asian Review. "Once the number is down, it is much easier for the police to enforce" the law.