Multiple pro-democracy candidates disqualified from Hong Kong election

Multiple Hong Kong pro-democracy candidates have been barred from standing in upcoming legislative elections, amid reports the government may postpone the polls until next year over the coronavirus.

Twelve pro-democracy candidates were formally disqualified Thursday, including prominent Hong Kong activist and former leader of the 2014 Umbrella Movement Joshua Wong. Others affected include a number of candidates from more traditional pro-democracy parties, as well as several young activists who cut their political teeth in last year’s pro-democracy protest movement.

On Twitter, Wong accused the Chinese government of showing a “total disregard for the will of (Hong Kongers)” and trampling on “the city’s last pillar of vanishing autonomy.”