Beijing is continuing to come down hard on Hong Kong’s freewheeling 7.5 million citizens with the expulsion on Oct. 5 of Financial Times Asia News Editor Victor Mallet, the outlawing of a pro-independence political party, disbarring of elected opposition lawmakers from the Legislative Council for faulty oath-taking, and denial of a former student leader to contest a by-election. All levers of executive power are being utilized to block opposition voices. The judiciary is roundly criticized for being too lenient and not sufficiently playing the role of enforcers.