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Dec 8, 2019
World Politics: Biggest Hong Kong Protest in Months Signals More Unrest in 2020
By
Cathy Chan
,
Iain Marlow
, and
Aaron Mc Nicholas
Hong Kong saw its biggest
pro-democracy protest in months on Sunday, signaling more unrest to
come in 2020 as the movement that began in June to fight China’s
increasing grip on the city shows its staying power.
Hundreds of
thousands of demonstrators flooded the city’s major downtown boulevards,
many waving U.S. flags, singing “Glory to Hong Kong” and chanting “Five
demands, not one less.” The protests were largely peaceful throughout
the afternoon, though at night tensions emerged between riot police and
some radical demonstrators. Some protesters also called for disrupting
the commute on Monday morning.
Demonstrators march during a protest in Causeway Bay district of Hong Kong on Dec. 8.The
rally was the first organized by the Civil Human Rights Front to get
police approval since August, prompting many Hong Kongers who normally
wouldn’t risk joining an illegal assembly to hit the streets.
The organizer said about 800,000 were at the rally, while
police estimated 183,000 were at the peak of the protest. The show of
force follows a landslide victory for pro-democracy forces in local
elections last month.
“Yet another breathtaking display of Hong Kongers’ political
might,” said Claudia Mo, a pro-democracy lawmaker who joined the march
on Sunday. “By now it’s obvious the Hong Kong fight will go on, we will
soldier on,” she said. “This may last for the generations to come.”
Carrie
Lam, Hong Kong’s leader backed by Chinese President Xi Jinping, has
refused to give in to demands including an independent inquiry into
police violence and meaningful elections for the city’s top political
positions. The demonstrations have maintained popular support even as
the economy has slid into a recession.
“Should Carrie Lam or the Beijing regime continue to ignore
the outcry, Hong Kongers will continue to resist the government by
peaceful and not-so-peaceful means,” said Fernando Cheung, another
opposition lawmaker.
Mass Marches
The
protesters have sought to pressure the government with a combination of
peaceful mass marches, like the one on Sunday afternoon; and more
violent actions like shutting down transport networks, vandalizing
mainland-linked businesses and seizing universities. Police have made
more than 6,000 arrests, while coming under fire for abuses in seeking
to contain the demonstrations.
Earlier on Sunday, police said they arrested 11 people while
seizing a semi-automatic pistol, bullet-proof jackets, retractable
batons and pepper spray in the raid. They suspected an “extreme” group
of people would try to attack police or “create chaos” during the rally.
Demonstrators interact with each other during a protest on Dec. 8.While the protest was largely peaceful, the police said
early Monday that some had blocked streets in the evening,
spray-painted walls of the High Court and vandalized shops in the
Causeway Bay shopping district, “seriously challenging the spirit of the
rule of law.”
“We’re very nervous,” Li Kwai Wah, senior
superintendent at the Organized Crime Triad Bureau, told reporters
earlier. “I am urging the protesters today to pay extra attention to
their surroundings and leave the scene and report to the police if there
are signs of danger.”
MTR Corp., the city’s subway operator, said
it’s adding more train captains for some services to ensure there
aren’t any foreign objects on the rail tracks. It also said rides on the
East Rail Line will be longer than usual. Some trackside equipment was
destroyed at the University Station and trains are expected to travel at
a slower speed.
Lam’s government withdrew a bill
allowing extraditions to the mainland that originally sparked the
protests, and called for dialogue on the other demands. China has sought
to portray the issues as largely economic in nature, while refusing to
offer a political solution.
The
protesters on Sunday vowed to keep on fighting into 2020, when Hong
Kong is scheduled to hold elections for the Legislative Council. Kelvin,
a 30-year-old salesperson who declined to give his last name, also said
the protesters were “building our own economics.”
“I know a lot of businesses take sides, so we are going for
the side that supports democracy,” he said. “Our government is not
responding to any of them so that’s why we are still here.”
Under Pressure
Companies
have got caught in the middle of the protests. Chinese retailers and
branches of lenders like Bank of China Ltd. have been ransacked by
vandals, while Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. and the NBA have come under
pressure from Beijing after employees supported the demonstrations.
Over the weekend, the heads of the American Chamber of
Commerce in Hong Kong were denied entry to Macau and sent back, with no
explanation given.
“We hope
that this is just an over reaction to current events and that
international business can constructively forge ahead,” the chamber said
in a statement.
Pro-government supporters wave Chinese national flags during a rally in the Wan Chai district of Hong Kong on Dec. 7. Photographer: Paul Yeung/BloombergOn
Saturday, hundreds of pro-government demonstrators gathered in Wan Chai
waving China and Hong Kong flags while condemning the violent protests
and vandalism of the past months. Organizers told local media Ming Pao
that they think the vote for local district councils last month was
unfair and called for actions to rebut the protesters’ plans for a
general strike on Monday.
Sunday’s large turnout showed that the
government will be “living in a fantasy” if they believe the protests
will die down early next year, particularly with the holidays of
Christmas and Chinese New Year coming up, said Alvin Yeung, a lawmaker
in the pro-democracy camp.
“People are still very eager to fight
for what they have been fighting for,” he said. “It’s not the end yet --
it’s far from the end.”
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