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This is an excerpt from an NHK easy article talking about the new law passed in Hong Kong:

この法律に違反する可能性がある政治の団体が活動をやめています。

この法律に this law

違反する可能性がある政治の団体が活動 activities (by?) government groups (that?) possibly oppose... this law have ceased

Possibly a better translation would be - demonstrations/protests by government groups that possibly oppose this law will cease?

I suppose what I don't understand is how the two が's used in this sentence are functioning:

The first が: 違反する可能性がある政治の団体 lit. government groups that possibly oppose?

The second が: 政治の団体が活動 lit. activities by government groups? (in retrospect, the が here is the subject marker)

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If it were to be parsed, this is what it would look like:

(a) この法律に違反する可能性がある\ (b) 政治の \ 団体が活動をやめています

The one in boldface is the core of the sentence. (a) and (b) modifies 団体.

Now, you mentioned this:

The first が: 違反する可能性がある政治の団体  lit. government groups that possibly oppose? The second が: 政治の団体が活動 lit. activities by government groups? (in retrospect, the が here is the subject marker)

Your understanding of the first が is correct. It would have been better though if you included 法律に so that you can translate it to "government/political groups that possibly oppose the law."

For the second が, the one in 団体が活動をやめています, it translates to "groups are ceasing their activities (i.e., demonstration, protests)."

So all in all, the sentence can translate to "The political groups that have the possibility of violating this law have stopped their activities."

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  • Sorry, I misread your answer.
    – Chocolate
    Jul 2, 2020 at 3:31
  • No worries @Chocolate. Is there anything you'd want me to improve on?
    – rebuuilt
    Jul 2, 2020 at 7:09

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