In Wake of Protests, Security Chief in Hong Kong Resigns | NY Times

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In Wake of Protests, Security Chief in Hong Kong Resigns
By KEITH BRADSHER

HONG KONG, July 16 — The combative secretary of security here, who led a push for stringent internal-security laws that prompted 500,000 people to march in protest on July 1, announced tonight that she had resigned, in what appeared to be another big victory for this city's democracy movement.

Regina Ip has overseen the city's police, immigration, customs and other uniformed officers since July of 1998, and has often been seen as Beijing's enforcer here. She kept a sword from the People's Liberation Army at the front of her desk and consistently took the lead on controversial issues, such as ordering immigration officers to raid homes last year to find people who had lost the right to live in Hong Kong after Beijing intervened in a legal battle here.

(Later today, the financial secretary, Antony Leung, said that he, too, was resigning. He did not give a reason, but he has been under fire since this spring after it emerged that he bought a luxury car six weeks before announcing the government would more than double the taxes on such cars.)

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