Rao Geping, a law professor at Peking University and member of the Hong Kong Basic Law Committee on February 16, 2016, called for urgent enactment of the national security legislation in the wake of last week’s riot in Mong Kok, backing Beijing’s move to label the rioters “separatists” in a similar category as those in Tibet and Xinjiang. His demand came within days of Hong Kong security minister Lai Tung-kwok trying to quash concerns that the riot would prompt the government to revive the controversial legislation. Rao Geping said “The level of seriousness might be different, but ... the goal of these forces is to disunite the country, and advocate the ­region’s separation from it, ...From this perspective, it is difficult to see any difference.” Separately, Beijing’s liaison office chief Zhang Xiao­ming has branded the rioters of Mongkok as “radical separatists”.