Hong Kong bans face masks after months of protests bbc.com

Hong Kong's chief executive Carrie Lam has used a colonial-era emergency law to ban face masks after months of angry protests.

The measure was announced on Friday, following widespread violence on 1 October, the 70th anniversary of Communist Party rule in China.

Ms Lam said the violence was "destroying the city" and authorities could not "just leave the situation to get worse and worse."

The ban comes into effect on Saturday.

But observers say the regulation will be hard to enforce and hugely controversial.

Mask-wearing activists marched on Friday afternoon – as the ban was being announced – and called on others to also wear masks in defiance of the government.