Several protesters who were detained at a correctional facility in Pik Uk reported that they had been tortured and physically abused by guards. They reported that the guards beat their hands and feet, slapped their face, then forced them to slap themselves after they were taken to a room without security camera during their time in detention. According to Reuters, the government contacted eight public relations firms to improve the image of the government in late September 2019, but six of them declined to participate for fear that partnering with the HKSAR government may tarnish their reputation. On 30 July 2020, the Hong Kong government made ineligible a dozen pro-democracy candidates from running in Legislative Council elections which had been scheduled for 6 September; the elections were later postponed by a year, for which the government cited a new surge in COVID-19 cases as reason. Observers noted that the delay could have been politically motivated as the pro-Beijing camp may lose their majority in the LegCo following the election. The government claimed that the disqualified candidates had colluded with foreign forces and opposed the new national security law. Macau government On 19 March 2021, the Macau SAR government announced that any lawmaker in the AL who supports the Hong Kong protests will be disqualified from their positions under the Macau Basic Law. Domestic reactions The pro-Beijing camp supported the government in promoting the bill, though U-turned when the government withdrew the bill. They condemned the use of violence by protesters, including breaking into the LegCo Complex and using petrol bombs and unidentified liquids against the police, and used the term "rubbish youths" () to refer to high school- and university-age participants. They maintained their support for the Hong Kong Police Force and held various counter-demonstrations to support them, and criticised the government for not taking enough actions to "halt the violence". Members of the Executive Council, Ip Kwok-him and Regina Ip alleged that there was a "mastermind" behind the protests but could not provide substantial evidence to support their claim. Many lawmakers from the pan-democratic camp, such as Ted Hui and Roy Kwong, assisted the protesters in various scenarios. Responding to the escalation of the mid-August protests at the airport, the convenor of the pro-democratic caucas, Claudia Mo, while disagreeing with some protesters' actions, asserted that her group of lawmakers would not split with the protesters. Pro-democrats also condemned the