"Parents whispered about whether to stop their children from singing a popular protest song, while activists devised coded ways to express now-dangerous ideas."

"Seemingly overnight, Hong Kong was visibly and viscerally different, its more than seven million people left to navigate what [China’s new security law] would mean to their lives.... For some who had been alarmed by the ferocity of last year’s unrest, which at times transformed shopping districts, neighborhoods and university campuses into smoke-filled battlefields, the law brought relief and optimism. For others, who had hoped the desperate protest campaign would help secure long-cherished freedoms, it signaled a new era of fear and uncertainty....  The police collected DNA samples and searched the homes of the 10 people arrested on suspicion of inciting subversion — measures that seemed excessive when applied to people accused only of possessing pamphlets, said Janet Pang, a lawyer who is helping some of them. 'You’re supposed to only use power that is necessary, and that’s how the law should be,' she said.... Xu Ze, a 22-year-old recent college graduate, said the law was needed to address the 'terrorism' committed by some protesters. He had been horrified by a clash in November, when some demonstrators poured gasoline on a man who had scolded them, then set him ablaze. But Mr. Xu also worried that the law could be used to clamp down on dissent, including speech. Mr. Xu, who grew up on the mainland before attending university in Hong Kong, had never had a chance to protest at home. Last year, he attended his first demonstration, a small gathering against violence. If Hong Kongers lost the right to protest, he said, 'I would feel deeply, deeply regretful.'"

From "Hong Kong, Changed Overnight, Navigates Its New Reality/In a city where China has made some ideas suddenly dangerous, people are trying to figure out where the boundaries lie, and how their lives have changed" (NYT).