Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office director Xia Baolong previously has said that Hong Kong should only be governed by “patriots”, which attracted heated debate in political circles.

A photo uploaded online by netizens on Facebook yesterday shows a fenced-off area in Sha Tau Kok, which the gate bears a plaque that wrote "Hong Kong Patriotism Education Centre."

Inside the fenced-off area were no buildings but only an open field overgrown with weeds.

Many netizens joined the comment section under the post, with some saying the Hong Kong government is building a “concentration camp” in Hong Kong.

“This is not how people should be taught to love the country, these ‘concentration camps’ only brainwash people to love the communist party, not the country,” one of the netizens commented.

While some said this may be some kind of a joke as the authorities have never announced to set up such education centers in Hong Kong.