During this year's National Day celebrations, Hong Kong will have more police on the streets than it did during the same holiday two years ago, demonstrating the authorities' laser focus on removing any trace of dissent in the financial metropolis.

According to local media outlets HK01 and others, the city's police department will deploy more than 8,000 personnel on Thursday and Friday, including counterterrorism experts, elite Special Tactical Squad "raptors," and plainclothes officers. That's more than the 6,000 people who took to the streets during the 2019 Christmas season when the city was shaken by sometimes violent protests.

Areas in the Wan Chai district will be cordoned off. Top officials will perform an annual flag-raising ceremony and where Chief Executive Carrie Lam is anticipated to deliver a speech.

A request for a response from the Hong Kong police and administration was not immediately returned.

The heavy police presence comes as mainland leaders continue to stress the necessity of the former British colony's return to stability following the anti-government riots in 2019. In June of last year, Beijing responded to the turmoil by implementing a national security law on Hong Kong, including life terms for secession, subversion, terrorism, and cooperating with foreign forces.

After a lone-wolf assailant stabbed a police officer on July 1, an annual holiday commemorating the day Hong Kong was returned to the Chinese administration from Britain in 1997, officials have been on the lookout for signs of protest or terrorism.

When an elite group voted for the committee that will choose the city's leader next year, about 6,000 police officers were deployed earlier this month. Last year's National Day, which falls on October 1 every year in Hong Kong, saw almost 6,000 police deployed.