In Hong Kong renewed protests, police used tear gas against demonstrators and demonstrators. These had gone onto the streets despite a ban on attacks by thugs in an earlier protest.
TV pictures showed the repeated use of tear gas at Yuen Long Station in the northwest of the Chinese Special Administrative Region, where thousands of people from the pro-democracy movement had previously gathered. Some demonstrators threw objects at the police and damaged a police car. The police were represented with a large contingent. She announced that she wanted to dissolve the rally.
The protesters were mostly dressed in black. They accuse the police of having not acted fast enough on attacks of about 100 men on the demonstrators in protests last weekend. Behind the attacks, the Chinese mafia, the Triads, is suspected. The attacks near Yuen Long, near the border between Hong Kong and mainland China, resulted in at least 45 people being seriously injured.
Rally prohibited by police
The rally on Saturday had banned the police. She justified the ban with possible retaliatory attacks on residents of Yuen Long. However, social networks have called for people to take to the streets anyway, and some activists have called for a „shopping spree“ in Yuen Long. Others appealed to players of the popular smartphone search game „Pokemon Go“ to meet in droves in Yuen Long.
Unlike previous protests, few participants had signs and banners. „We all invited ourselves,“ said a 25-year-old participant. „I am here as an individual to give my opinion to people.“ Another demonstrator said she wanted to show her participation „that we are not afraid and that the Hong Kong people are not intimidated“.
Again and again hundreds of thousands on the streets
The mostly peaceful mass protests against Hong Kong’s Beijing-loyal government have been going on for seven weeks. Hundreds of thousands go to the streets regularly. The displeasure of the population had been ignited by a now shelved extradition law, which should make deliveries to mainland China possible for the first time.
Prime Minister Carrie Lam has meanwhile declared the law „dead“. However, she did not respond to the demand of the demonstrators to formally withdraw the bill. Meanwhile, the protests have widened: the demonstrators demand democratic reforms, universal suffrage and the resignation of Lams.
Further demonstrations announced
Already on Friday, hundreds of demonstrators had gathered for a protest at Hong Kong airport, in particular to inform visitors from mainland China about the anti-government protests in the Special Administrative Region. Another rally is planned for Sunday. It should end near the Chinese representation. This was thrown at recent protests with eggs and sprayed with graffiti. China criticized the incident sharply.
The former British Crown Colony of Hong Kong has been governed autonomously as a separate territory since its return to China in 1997, following the principle of „one country, two systems“. Unlike the people of the People’s Republic, the Hong Kong people enjoy the right to freedom of expression, freedom of the press and assembly under the Constitution for the Chinese Special Administrative Region. Many of the seven million Hong Kong citizens increasingly fear that their freedoms could be curtailed.
