♪ >> you're watching al jazeera. a reminder of our top news stories. police in lima have blocked protesters from reaching government headquarters. they are marching against the impeachment of the former president. he will serve as interim president until july. more from lima. >> people are angry. they say that a mafia has taken over the government, especially congress, that was able to impeach with 105 votes. they say that there are 68

lawmakers that have criminal investigations ongoing with investigations that go from homicide to fraud to money laundering. a long list of crimes. people say they should be unseated instead of having the former president. anchor: top u.s. election officials have released a statement describing the presidential vote as the most secure in u.s. history. there's no evidence of ballots being changed or lost. more republican politicians are breaking with donald trump over his refusal to cooperate with president-elect joe biden. ethiopia's prime minister has declared victory in the northern region of tigre where the federal government is battling local forces. a growing humanitarian crisis with thousands displaced across the border. amnesty international says hundreds of civilians of died. more than 90 people including a

six-month-old baby have died off of libya's coast in the past two days and attempted wrote -- boat crossings to europe. a search operation is underway after 74 people drowned on thursday after leaving the libyan port. the u.s. top infectious disease expert says the country can avoid another coronavirus lockdown if people get serious about social distancing and wearing masks. anthony faucher for vigilance during the wait for vaccines which he predicts could be in april. on wednesday, the u.s. saw its highest number of daily deaths since may. texas has passed one million confirmed cases with california expected to follow suit. you can follow the latest on all of the stories we are covering by logging onto our website, updated through the day. more news in a half-hour. next, inside story. stay with us. ♪

>> the opposition has left the building. hong kong's pro-democracy legislators resign en masse to protest against the removal of colleagues deemed unpatriotic. is this the end of political dissent in the semi autonomous chinese territory? this is inside story. ♪ anchor: hello and welcome to the program. a mass walkout is raising new concerns about democracy in hong kong. 15 opposition politicians

stepped down after the dismissal of colleagues considered a threat to china's national security. beijing says the resignation is a farce and a direct challenge to its authority over the former british colony. the u.k. is accusing china of breaking his promise to preserve the city's economy. hong kong's legislature has effectively been left with no political opposition. adrian brown reports. reporter: hong kong's legislative assembly was choir than usual on thursday. almost a quarter of its lawmakers have resigned or been disqualified. staging what's likely to be their last protest. the chinese characters say hong kong's leader carrie lam has brought calamity to the territory and its people, she will stink for 10,000 years. the slogan was displayed by democratic lawmakers who must now give up their office by the end of the month. >> i will keep fighting for democracy of hong kong.

we will never surrender. we will hang together with all the hong kong people and civil society. to fight against the dictatorship. reporter: this is what china's leaders want to stamp out. lawmakers behaving badly. those from the democratic camp accused of being the main culprits. china's government has condemned the mass resignation of almost all hong kong's opposition as a farce with only themselves to blame for their downfall, says the soul hong kong delegate to china's most powerful political body. >> what china has been doing is based on the constitution and basic law. everything should be done in accordance with the law. we cannot badmouth one country, to systems in the chinese government. reporter: hong kong's

legislature is set to become little more than a rubberstamp parliament. dissent outside the chamber will likely continue. what does this mean? >> this means continuing instability. you can push it down with the police. you can push it down with arrests. reporter:reporter: it reemerges. it's not clear what this means for elections supposed to have been held two months ago. now pushed back until september next year because of covid-19. on thursday, chinese officials in hong kong warned that legislators who resign or have been disqualified should not be eligible to stand in that pole. wednesday's shakeup of parliament comes four months after china's government imposed a sweeping national security law on the territory. some critics call it draconian. in spite of continuing international criticism, china's leadership remains confident and

defiant. al jazeera, hong kong. ♪ anchor: let's bring in our guests from hong kong. emily lau, former chairperson of the democratic party of hong kong. an author and conservative columnist from new jersey. joining us from hong kong is a journalist and author of several books on the relationship between hong kong and china. welcome to each of you. let me start with you, emily. how much is this going to reshape hong kong's political landscape? >> very much. some of the peoe that i've spoken to are saying that things are going to get a lot more worse. so i think we have to fasten our seatbelts. it seems beijing, the administration of carrie lam,

they don't give it about public opinion or internationally. they are hell-bent on cracking down on dissent. now that the democrats have left the legislative council, because we have the pandemic and social distancing rules, people cannot turn out to march in huge numbers. there's a lot of pent-up feeling of anger and frustration. concern. i think things are going to get worse. we are ready. don't think we have thrown in the towel. we are ready. we will continue with the struggle. things could turn nasty. anchor: how much does all this damage hong kong's reputation in the world as an open city, as a bastion for freedom of speech and the rule of law? >> look, this is part of the

process. we've heard the national security law -- excuse me. clamp down on teachers. books banned from libraries. hong kong lives and dies by its reputation as a place where there is rule of law, predictability, and there was. once that disappears or is eroded, hong kong becomes a much lesser place. it does not become the ideal place to locate international businesses or become a free international center. it's quite serious. that is putting it mildly in terms of consequences. anchor: the united states has said that china flagrantly violated hong kong's aton ami after the ousting of these lawmakers. the u.s. is also warning against further sanctions in china. the relationships have been at a

low point for a while now. how much more does that strain that relationship? >> this could strain the relationship substantially, especially if the top administration starts to designate more individuals under the hong kong autonomy act. it could designate -- he is undermining hong kong autonomy. indeed, if the u.s. imposes the banking sanctions, that could sever the relationship between the united states and china. anchor: i want to ask you to expand more on your previous answer. with regard to the new resolution passed by beijing, how much easier now does it become to quash dissent in hong kong? >> to quash dissent among politicians, elected politicians is very easy. now they have all left the council. some are predicting that none of

them would be allowed to stand as candidates again. carrie lam postponed the legislative council election meant for september this year. to september of next year. maybe even beyond that. we don't know whether the election will be held. i think many people are very pessimistic. thinking that it would be very difficult if not impossible to get back into the legislature. also, they are thinking that beijing may also crackdown on the local levels. the district councils. because of the huge victory in the election last november. many of the councils are dominated by the democrats. there's concern that they may even try to oust these elected district counselors as well. it is very alarming. that's why i said britain, the

former colonial power, and our friends in the international community, we hope they will speak out. people will say, they make statements or do other things. that would not change. i think it's much better for the international community to speak out for us than to have no noise at all. anchor: there are many who are calling this effectively the end of the one country, two systems in hong kong. do you believe that is the case now? if so, what happens going forward? >> i think when you have diminished a town ami to the extent that elected officials in hong kong can be dismissed in beijing, when you've diminished authority where the chief executive has to even go to beijing for instructions on how to conduct the economic policy

of hong kong, the level of a town ami that is left to the hong kong government is very small indeed. there's a very important proviso. hong kong is coming to a very different place from the rest of the mainland. i'm speaking from hong kong. there is still a high degree of levity in hong kong. it is being eroded. the differences between the two entities, which were supposed to be kept apart, is being eroded as a place which is breathtaking. there is still a difference to some extent. anchor: from your perspective, where does the u.s. china relationship go in a joe biden administration. do you believe things are poised to improve or will they continue to deteriorate? >> i think that every new occupant in the white house gives china a grace period to

develop cooperative relationships. every new president things they can do better than the previous one. there will be a time when the biden administration will try to cozy up to beijing. i don't think that it will work. there's a fundamental difference. china's regime is committing crimes against amenity. it is stealing hundreds of billions of dollars of u.s. intellectual property. it is challenging the u.s. and its global comments. this is not a relationship that is going to work. it should get worse. we should not be tolerating china's on the people behavior. anchor: when it comes to resignations, there are some analysts who say that mass resignations actually remove democracy activists access to the legislative council. there are other analysts who say that had the opposition lawmakers stayed, they would have been perceived as lending legitimacy to beijing's new

resolution and the dismissal of the four lawmakers. did they have their own difficulties. >> of course. there are people in hong kong with very different views, even the people who support the pro-democracy camp. so way -- it is a controversial decision. if you look at the way things have developed, even if the 15 decided not to leave, they may be kicked out. could be kicked out quite soon. they will continue to filibuster. they want to delay the process. so that these terrible legislation on giving the right to vote to people living in the area, this big reclamation of the island, they want to stop those things. that's why they are filibustering. also, the administration would not have dialogue with them.

if they continue that behavior, even if they stayed on, i'm sure the administration and the pro-beijing legislatures will kick them out. i don't think they had much alternatives. the thing about it is, there's a lot of disagreement. the way forward is to have engagement, to have dialogue. the beijing regime feels, we will not talk to these people. these people try to react like this. they say, we will kill you dead. kick you out. anchor: the legislative council will be left now with only pro-beijing politicians. what does that mean going forward? will it make it easier for lawmakers to be able to pass laws that are favored by beijing? reporter: -- >> oh yes. obviously, that is so. i would add to what emily just

said. all this filibustering would have delayed legislation going through. the way the system has been built, there is a majority for the pro-china camp. i don't actually think this is all about improving the work of the legislature. this is about delegitimizing any form of opposition. i think that's the crucial point here. total intolerance. emily has just said, there's no dialogue with the democrats. that is absolutely true. it goes further than that. beijing is saying, you can't demonstrate on the streets. you can't take part in elections. if you write things in a newspaper we don't like, you will be arrested. it's much more widespread. this is part of that process. very important part of the process. it is a much bigger process of saying, opposition in hong kong is no longer legal.

anchor: any guesses as to what we might see from donald trump's administration towards china until joe biden get sworn in? >> we will see the trump administration continuing the policies of the last year and a half. really, he should do that. largely because china has been attacking representative governments in hong kong, snuffed it out. i think beijing now feels emboldened. it will go after the u.s. even harder than it has in the past. over the course of the election, china has been attacking, not only donald trump, also the form of america's representative governance. they've been attacking our democracy. now they feel they have gotten more opportunity to do so. i would think both trump and president biden are going to

defend the american republic. that means we are going to see more friction. anchor: there's a growing generational divide between the older and younger members of the pro-democracy movement. there has been a between those generations that has been building for some time now. is it possible to bridge that gap? if so, how is that done? >> of course, we are willing. we in the democratic party are willing to talk to people of all ages. it's not a question of us shunning them. for those who don't want to talk to us, we cannot force them. of course, my party does not support independence. we do not support using violence to struggle. we are willing to talk to them. at the beginning of next month, it's my party's annual general

meeting. we will elect new leadership. some of our very young members are fighting to be elected as chair and vice chair of the party. it's good. let these young people come forward. maybe they can talk to other young people better. i have many mentees. i know a lot of young people. i don't know. you seem to have the impression that it's a very big divide. we talk to each other all the time. sometimes, they like to criticize us. some of them like to replace us, which is ok. democracy is about competition. if you are better than us, we will fade away. anchor: let me ask you the same question. that divide between younger members and older members of the pro-democracy movement. can that generational gap be bridged? >> it's an interesting topic. there was a lot of backlash last

year in the beginning of the movement. a lot of the younger demonstrators thought that the traditional damage -- democrats had not been up to par. what has happened, much more recently, they are now all sharing a common fate. the frontline protesters who were arrested last year during the height of the demonstrations are now being joined in court by the traditional older democrats. they are all in the same boat. this divide -- there was a divide. it has been narrowed by the actions of the hong kong government and its masters in beijing. they are putting everybody in the same camp. i don't think that there's a very big chasm between the two groups. you know, one thing is that the younger generation, who were taking the lead on the streets, have a tendency to want more

violent action, at least more participation on the streets rather than council chambers or what have you. now, that form of opposition has been shut off by the administration. they themselves, by their action, have forced these camps together. it's makes ordinary irony. anchor: are there officials in the u.s. government or chinese government that are concerned about how bad the relationship has gotten between the two countries? are there steps by any members of the government, of either country, to try to make that relationship better? >> just talking about the u.s., of course it is concerned about the relationship with china. there is more friction. there are more disagreements. people here are starting to understand. beijing uniting the two branches

of the younger and older protesters. the same thing is happening in the u.s.. china is delegitimizing its friends. you have the henry kissinger school. they talk about the disaster of that. we are not driving this. it is china that is driving this. with regard to what's happening in china, god only knows. they are determined to snuff out any opposition, just like he snuffed out opposition in the legislative council. anchor: are there any avenues remaining for legislators, residents to express dissent in hong kong at this stage? >> well, as stephen just said, we are not exactly like mainland china yet. if we were, i don't think i would be having this conversation with you. in the past 12 hours, i have spoken to quite a number of

foreign journalists and diplomats. i don't think this thing would be that possible in mainland china. i don't know. people kept asking me when i will be arrested. i think that we just have to use whatever space, freedom that we have to continue to express ourselves. i will never allow myself to be intimidated into silence. that's why i'm talking to you. tomorrow, get up at 6:00 to talk to the australians. i think there are people like that. at the end of the day, you pay your price. if you look around the world, there are so many people fighting for democracy, human rights. they are paying a much heavier price than we do. they have to dodge bullets. they get arrested, tortured, killed. right now, we are not as bad as

that yet. anchor: it looked to me like you were nodding along. did you want to add to the point she was making? >> i would. what is now going to happen is a long time of passive resistance. the sort of thing you saw prior to the breakup of the soviet union at the end of the 1980's. you did not see until the last moment big demonstrations on the streets. you saw these minor but still alive acts of resilience. let me give you an example. when the police launched a big rate on the apple daily newspaper, the only mainstream newspaper which supports the democracy movement, the next day, people went out and bought shares of the company in the thousands, hundreds of thousands. they bought the newspaper and saw -- sat around hong kong

reading the newspaper. it was an act of defiance. we will not see large-scale demonstrations. the movement will be kept alive by these sorts of things. how much even that will be cracked down on, i'm not sure. that may well also become a dangerous thing to do in the future. anchor: does the u.s. now expect to see other politicians or groups in hong kong being targeted? if so, how quickly will that happen? >> i don't know what u.s. officials think. i'm sure they are not very optimistic about the direction of things. beijing has closed off all the political process. in terms of what people may expect, i think this is an insurgency. eventually, we are going to see large-scale demonstrations in hong kong. small-scale roses tense that stephen was talking about. this is going to be a contest

that will go on for quite some time. the -- they are determined to control hong kong. he will put stephen and emily in jail if that's what it takes. he will do that. they are very brave right now. i think u.s. officials are externally concerned with what's going on. that is bipartisan. not just president trump or joe biden. it is across the political spectrum. anchor: we will have to leave the conversation there. thanks to all of our guests. thank you for watching. you can see the program again any time by visiting our website. for further discussion, go to where facebook page. you can also join the conversation on twitter. for me and the whole team here, bye for now. ♪

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