The Hong Kong government on Tuesday banned Joshua Wong, one of the most prominent faces of the pro-democracy movement in the city, from running in the upcoming district-level elections.

“The candidate cannot possibly comply with the requirements of the relevant electoral laws, since advocating or promoting ‘self-determination’ is contrary to the content of the declaration that the law requires a candidate to make to uphold the Basic Law (the city’s constitution) and pledge allegiance to the HKSAR (Hong Kong’s official name),” District Officer Laura Liang Aron said in a statement.

The developments were likely to further widen divisions in Hong Kong, which has been wracked by more than four months of unrest driven in part by demands for political reform. Hong Kong’s leader, Carrie Lam, also warned that the Asian financial hub was on the brink of an economic recession.

The government confirmed Wong’s disqualification, without identifying him. It indicated the problem was related to a candidate advocating “self-determination” for Hong Kong, which it said conflicts with the requirement for candidates to declare they’ll pledge allegiance to the city and uphold its constitution.

Wong, 23, became known as the young face of Hong Kong’s “Umbrella Movement” that peacefully occupied streets for 79 days in 2014, and he has since been repeatedly arrested and jailed. He has been less important to the current protest movement, which has been leaderless and whose participants have sought to remain anonymous.

The protests, which have been drawing massive crowds since June following a contentious proposed extradition law that has been pulled by the government, have mutated into a movement that seeks to improve the democratic mechanisms that govern Hong Kong and safeguard – or expand – the region’s partial autonomy from Beijing.

Taking to Twitter, Wong tweeted that being barred proves Beijing is manipulating the election through political censorship and screening.

Wong and other pro-democracy activists were disqualified from running in previous elections. But the others have reportedly been approved for the Nov. 24 local district council elections, making him the only one to be banned.

The disqualification came as Lam ruled out finding a political resolution before ending protest violence.

However, some demonstrators have opted for more radical tactics than peaceful civil disobedience and violent clashes with the police have been frequent.

Last week, China was planning to replace Lam as the city’s chief executive while citing people briefed on the deliberations, which would bring to a close Lam’s rule after months of pro-democracy protests.

Earlier in the month, Lam had introduced a ban on people wearing masks at public rallies, colonial-era emergency legislation that has not been used in more than half a century.

In 2018, the Hong Kong government had disqualified the candidacy of another pro-democracy activist, Agnes Chow, for the Legislative Council by-election in March of the same year due to her stance on advocating self-determination for the former British colony.

The controversial China extradition bill was withdrawn in early September but the movement has morphed into a wider campaign for greater democracy and against alleged police brutality.

(With agency inputs)