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U.K. offers citizenship path to Hong Kongers due to China's security law

01 July 2020
 Dan Ackermann

U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson denounced China's new security law for Hong Kong and said the U.K. would offer residency and a path to citizenship to eligible residents of the semi-autonomous city — potentially numbering in the millions.

What they're saying: Johnson accused China of a "serious breach" of the terms under which the U.K. returned the city in 1997. China pledged to maintain Hong Kong's independent legal system and political freedoms for a period of 50 years.

Details: Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab then described a "bespoke immigration route" for which nearly three million Hong Kongers could be eligible.

  • Those with British National Overseas (BNO) status — granted to those living in Hong Kong prior to the 1997 handover — and their dependents will have "right to remain" in the U.K. for five years, during which time they can work or study.
  • They will then be allowed to apply for "settled status" and, after an additional year, citizenship.
  • Raab added that there will be no quotas. That means the 350,000 holders of BNO passports, plus the 2.6 million eligible to apply for them, could all potentially become U.K. citizens, along with their dependents, per the BBC's Stephen McDonell.

What to watch: "The Chinese Government has been publicly furious with the UK for even threatening just such a move and warned London not to proceed or risk unspecified retribution. Now that this has happened we're waiting for China's response," McDonell writes.

Go deeper:New Hong Kong law sets harsh penalties for broadly defined political crimes

Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

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Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.

Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.

The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.

  • The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.

What the transcripts say:

  • Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
  • The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
  • Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."

Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.