Hong Kong police unit enforcing the national security law imposed in the city by China has detained four student members of a pro-independence group, according to a media report on Thursday.

The arrests of the suspects, aged 16 to 21, on Wednesday marked the first such crackdown on anti-government activists not at the scene of street protests since the legislation came into effect on June 30, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) newspaper reported.

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Students were a pro-independence group who was disbanded on June 30, hours before the Beijing-imposed national security law came into effect, banning acts of secession, subversion, terrorism, and collusion with a foreign country to endanger national security.

During a press conference on Wednesday, Senior Superintendent Steve Li of the National Security Department under the police force said the suspects’ group had recently declared the establishment of a body to promote pro-independence political ideals “using any means possible” and build a “Republic of Hong Kong”.

On Tuesday, New Zealand Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters said that the country has suspended its extradition treaty with Hong Kong and made a number of other changes.

US secretary of state Mike Pompeo and defence secretary Mark Esper welcomed to Washington their Australian counterparts, Marise Payne and Linda Reynolds, for discussions.

The proposal, which has been condemned by the United States and Hong Kong pro-democracy figures as an assault on the city’s freedoms, was tabled on the opening day of the week-long National People’s Congress.

A Hong Kong pro-democracy activist said he has been fired by his university after he served jail time for taking part in protests.