The Pulse：Liu Xiaobo's death, Hongkongers identity & 4 legislators disqualified

On Christmas Day, 2009, Liu Xiaobo was sentenced to 11 years imprisonment and two years deprivation of political rights for “inciting subversion of state power”.
Two days before his sentence, he wrote his “I Have No Enemies: My Final Statement”. It was intended to be read out in court but he was not allowed to finish reading it.
A year later, Liu Xiaobo was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. His death on Thursday made him the second winner of that prize to die in captivity. The first, Carl von Ossietzky, who was awarded the prize in 1935, also died in hospital while detained by the Nazi regime. Like Liu, he had been banned from collecting the award himself. Governments and organisations around the world had pleaded for Liu to be allowed to leave China for treatment. Here in Hong Kong, pro-Beijing lawmakers refused to allow his plight to even be debated in Legco, and Chief Executive Carrie Lam said it’s not her role to exert “pressure” on the central government over Liu’s fate. Coverage of Liu Xiaobo’s death in China has been muted. On social media, messages saying “RIP” or even showing candle emojis are being deleted. With me in the studio is William Nee, China Researcher at Amnesty International Hong Kong.
When Chinese President Xi Jinping came to town two weeks ago to mark the 20th anniversary of the Handover, he laid down red lines Hong Kong should not cross. He said that, on day-to-day matters, we must “be guided by a strong sense of “one country”, and firmly observe the principle of “one country””. Any attempt to endanger China’s sovereignty and security and challenge the power of the central government is “an act that crosses the red line, and is absolutely impermissible.” The president’s hard line and incidents such as the treatment of Liu Xiaobo and other dissidents continue to unnerve many Hongkongers, some of whom are planning to leave, but many mainlanders Hong Kong are keen to live here as they the SAR as a land of opportunity.