Hong Kong’s Prime Minister Carrie Lam has put the fiercely opposed extradition law on hold. But the protests do not ebb off. Tens of thousands were on the streets again on Sunday – on a route shortened by the police and accompanied by enormous security measures.
With the shorter route, the police wanted to prevent the demonstration from passing by the seat of government and parliament. These were nevertheless secured by barricades two meters high. The police feared riots.
It was not until the beginning of July, the anniversary of the transfer of Hong Kong to China, that the protests escalated. Demonstrators occupied the parliament, then the police stormed the building. The security forces wanted to avoid scenes like these this time around.
Committee on Police Violence Demanded
Sunday’s demonstrators criticized the recent protests as ending in a densely populated and tight neighborhood where the masses find it difficult to disband after the demonstration. Some protesters also ignored the calls to go home after the protest march, but continued to move to the government district despite blockages and block roads.
The demonstrators are now calling for an independent committee of inquiry to discuss the proportionality of police violence in clashes with previous protests. There have been violent protests over the past few weeks.
Explosives found
The police also had major security concerns ahead of the recent protests on Sunday. It was not until Friday evening that she had found a weapons depot based on intelligence information in a room belonging to an independent group, the South China Morning Post („SCMP“) reported. According to the report, two kilos of explosives, incendiary devices, acid, knives and metal bars were found there. The explosives were therefore highly explosive TATP (triacetone priperoxides).
„I think it is without a doubt the largest amount we have ever found in Hong Kong,“ Superintendent Alick McWhirter was quoted as saying. Three people were arrested. It is currently being investigated whether there was any connection with the protests. According to media reports, the group said they did not know about the explosive. Only loudspeakers and information material had been stored in the room.
Hundreds of thousands of Hong Kongers have been taking to the streets for weeks against the extradition law. Many fear thereby an erosion of the liberties. The law should make it possible for people to be extradited to China, who are being charged by the Chinese judiciary. It was criticized that the judiciary in China is not independent and serves as a tool of political persecution. The resistance was correspondingly large.
Prime Minister Lam had since suspended the bill due to the weeks of pressure and declared „dead“. But it rejects a formal withdrawal of the draft, as required by the demonstrators, from.
China sees risk for Hong Kong’s stability
China had called the protests riots in early July an „open challenge“ for the formula „one country, two systems“. „If the violence continues, Hong Kong’s prosperity and stability will strike a bigger blow,“ the Chinese Communist Party newspaper said Sunday.
More than 100,000 people took to the streets in Hong Kong on Saturday in solidarity with the police and the government of the Republic of China. The predominantly older crowd also joined families and younger residents of the metropolis. They wielded Chinese flags and carried up signs of solidarity with the police on signs. According to police, 103,000 people participated in the rally. The organizers spoke according to media reports of 316,000 participants.
Hong Kong has been autonomously ruled within China’s own borders since its return in 1997 to China under Chinese sovereignty. The Hong Kong people, in contrast to mainland China, enjoy freedom of expression, freedom of the press and assembly. It is feared that Beijing wants to curtail these rights in Hong Kong as well. In fact, Hong Kong was guaranteed these basic political rights by 2047.
