(July 21): Hong Kong police fired tear gas to disperse demonstrators who had earlier surrounded China’s main local government office, as an otherwise peaceful protest march turned tense late Sunday.
Clashes broke out as police attempted to clear the remnants of the latest mass rally against the government and its now-suspended effort to allow extraditions to mainland China. The Hong Kong government denounced the protest outside China’s main liaison office as an act “openly challenging the country’s sovereignty.’’
The march marked the sixth straight week of anti-government rallies that have put increasing pressure on the financial hub’s administration. Organizers said 430,000 people turned out for Sunday’s march, while the police said 138,000 attended at its peak.
Organizer the Civil Human Rights Front said the rallies, which have drawn hundreds of thousands of people, were held to show support for demands including the complete withdrawal of the extradition legislation, amnesty for arrested protesters and the resignation of Chief Executive Carrie Lam, who is backed by Beijing.
The Appeal Board on Public Meetings and Processions’ ruled on Saturday that the march, originally planned to end at the city’s Court of Final Appeal in Central, must finish in the Wan Chai district, citing potential difficulties in crowd control. Marchers ignored the ruling, and police retreated and shifted their barricades to allow the mass of protesters past the Wan Chai end point.
Shopkeepers along the route supplied marchers with water and other drinks as the temperature in the city hovered above 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit). Barricades surrounding the police station in Wan Chai were converted into so-called Lennon Walls, spontaneous message boards adorned with brightly colored sticky labels.
Claudia Mo, a pan democracy lawmaker, said at Sunday’s rally that protesters wanted Lam to pledge not to target people who took part in the rallies.
“We would like her to say that there will be no prosecution of the protesters arrested, that there will be general amnesty in this very sad saga,” Mo said. “She refuses in the name of the rule of law.”
Lam earlier this month declared that the extradition bill was “dead,” but did not officially withdraw it, leaving open the potential for the government to revive it with 12 days’ notice and providing new momentum for protesters.
Bernard Chan, the convener of the city’s Executive Council, told Bloomberg in an email that there was little more the government could do to meet the demands of the protesters. "The government have already suspended the bill and Chief Executive has made very clear the bill is dead. I don’t see how it will ever reintroduce to Legco under this term or any term in the future."
Lam has vowed to use a more open manner to engage with the Hong Kong public and will concentrate on drafting a broad policy address for later this year, he added.
Kingston Cheung, a 17-year-old student who’s taken part in the protests since they started on June 9, said he marched on Sunday to voice opposition to the government’s handling of previous protests.
“The focus of the protests has been about the extradition bill, but we are also starting to see how the government and police have mishandled them,” he said. “The abuse of power by the police has added to the public’s anger.”
The march comes a week after attempts to clear a demonstration in the New Territories area of Sha Tin devolved into dramatic clashes between protesters and riot police inside a shopping mall -- keeping the heat on Lam. Officers arrested more than 40 people.
“My fear is there will be an escalation of violence,” said opposition lawmaker Alvin Yeung, who was at the New Town Center in Sha Tin when the scuffles erupted. “It seems like everyone knows if this continues, somebody must die -- either a protester or police officer. And then what?”
On Saturday, three men, between the ages of 25 and 27, were arrested in connection with the seizure of explosives, firebombs and other weapons in a industrial building in the Tsuen Wan district, according to a police statement. Officers found 1 kilogram of triacetone triperoxide at the scene, a police spokeswoman said.
Elsewhere, fights broke out in the Yuen Long metro station miles away from the main protests after groups of men in white shirts attacked passengers with sticks and umbrellas. They targeted people dressed in black, the preferred color of demonstrators.
Among those injured was Lam Cheuk-ting, a Democratic Party lawmaker, who posted pictures on his Facebook page of a cut on his lower lip. He spoke to reporters at Tuen Mun Hospital early Monday morning wearing bandages on his cheek and right arm, which he said was hurt while blocking multiple hits by wooden sticks wielded by attackers.
Lam said he was targeted when as many as 30 attackers in white shirts assaulted passengers on the train. He called the situation “extremely serious” and he’s concerned the aggressors -- some in their 20s and others as old as their 60s -- may be tied to triad gangs. They also ignored his warning that the police were arriving and continued to beat passengers with three-foot-long clubs.
The police condemned the violence in Yuen Long as well as at the main protest site in Hong Kong Island in a statement early Monday. “The police will not tolerate any violent behavior,” it said, adding that it’s “now actively following up the two incidents in order to bring the offenders to justice.”
At least 36 people were hurt in the fracas, with one in critical condition and four seriously injured, Radio Television Hong Kong reported.
Crowds of protesters have turned out regularly in the former British colony since mid-June. In recent weeks their ire has focused on China, which continues to back Lam publicly despite a Financial Times report that said she had offered to resign but was told to remain and resolve the city’s chaos.
On Saturday, thousands of government supporters rallied in the city center in support of the police, with organizers estimating 316,000 turned out and police putting the figure at 103,000, the South China Morning Post reported.
