Photo: screenshot of Hong Kong-based news portal website on.cc

Chinese netizens have called for the immediate introduction of the national security law to Hong Kong to bring to justice a dozen protesters who asked US troops to "land in" Hong Kong in protest at the national anthem bill, which will receive its second reading on Wednesday. 

Netizens in both the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong Special Administrative Region slammed the protesters as "disgraceful" for inviting foreign forces to interfere in China's internal affairs, and many also mocked them for "seeking US help but not even getting the English grammar correct" in their slogans. 

Dozens of people gathered at the International Finance Centre in Hong Kong on Monday night to protest against the national anthem bill, with some holding secessionist banners and shouting slogans calling for "Hong Kong independence." Some people held paper slogans asking US troops to "land in" Hong Kong to "protect" its people, Hong Kong-based news portal website on.cc reported.

According to photos posted by the website, two young people held paper slogans which read in Chinese, "Asking US troops to land in Hong Kong to protect Hong Kong people," but the grammatically incorrect English version said, "U.S troops, pleas for help to protect HK people."

The photos sparked an outcry from Hong Kong netizens, with some commenting, "Please immediately introduce the national security law to take those rioters to prison!" Some netizens mocked protesters for calling Monday's protest a "big gathering." "There were just a few dozen people, and you call this a 'big gathering'?" 

The photo was also widely denounced by mainland netizens, who called the protesters "too stupid" in pinning their hopes on the US, which does not even care about its own citizens. 

"You are just a pawn of the US. Will the US take care of you guys when its government failed to take care of its own citizens during the COVID-19 pandemic?" a netizen said. 

Hong Kong lawmakers will carry out a second reading of a draft of the national anthem law on Wednesday, reports said. 

Global Times