Critics who accused the Hong Kong police of making arrests and launching prosecutions arbitrarily under the national security law had twisted the facts, the city’s security chief said in defense of the draconian legislation.

“They deliberately twisted facts in an attempt to mislead the public into misconceptions about the police,” John Lee told China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency on Wednesday, addressing criticisms against authorities’ actions since Beijing imposed the law in Hong Kong last June.

One year on, Lee said the legislation had “plugged the loopholes” in Hong Kong’s law and provided a legal basis for the city’s law enforcement figures to act on protesters active in the 2019 pro-democracy demonstrations.

“The phenomenon of pro-independence and black-clad protesters has waned considerably,” he said.

The security chief claimed, however, that some foreign forces were still looking for opportunities to endanger China’s national security. Lee did not elaborate what forces these were.

He said some people would continue to advocate Hong Kong’s independence through various channels, prompting the need for police to take action. He said the police would pursue offenders their whole lives even if they fled overseas.

The police’s national security department, set up after the law’s enactment, had arrested 109 people so far, of which 62 were prosecuted, Lee said. A new telephone hotline handling cases related to national security had received more than 100,000 reports since November, he said.

In January, police arrested more than 50 pro-democracy politicians and activists for taking part in an unofficial primary for a legislative election last year. Of them, 47 have been charged with conspiring to subvert state power, a new offence created under the security law.

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