Pro-democracy demonstrations have returned to Hong Kong as coronavirus lockdown phases out. A big anti-government protest took place at a popular shopping mall on Sunday, where hundreds of riot police showed up to clamp down the protest.
The police arrested more than 250 protesters over the weekend, the Hong Kong-based newspaper South China Morning Post reported.
Police fired tear gas to disperse the crowd, hitting demonstrators and journalists alike, German broadcaster DW News reported.
“Some journalists who were sprayed by pepper spray were not allowed to receive immediate treatment, and they were requested to stop filming,” Chris Yeung, chairman of the Hong Kong Journalists Association, said.
Many of those who were detained by the police were students, with the youngest of them being 12 years old. Roy Kwong, a lawmaker belonging to the Hong Kong Democratic Party, was also roughed up and arrest by the police at the demonstration, news reports say.
The Hong-Kong daily South China Morning Post reported the return of anti-government protests:
Hong Kong police arrested more than 250 people in Mong Kok on the evening after Mother’s Day, which was marked with anti-government protests across the city. Riot police dispersed crowds with pepper spray as protesters attempted to block roads in the busy shopping district.Hong Kong police arrested more than 250 people in Mong Kok on Sunday night following a day of anti-government protests across the city.A source said about 200 of those were detained on suspicion of unlawful assembly.Earlier in the day, hundreds of protesters gathered in at least 10 shopping malls to chant slogans and sing Glory to Hong Kong, the anthem of the anti-government movement. (…)Since April 26, when hundreds gathered in Cityplaza to chant slogans, Hong Kong has seen a revival of protests, which had died down because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The student protests come in response to China’s attempts to tighten its control over the region. Hong Kong’s pro-Beijing leader, Carrie Lam, is currently pushing a new law, “making it illegal to disrespect China’s national anthem,” media reports say. Her pro-Chinese administration is working on a sweeping school curriculum reform, in keeping with the wishes of the Communist masters in China. Beijing wants to hoist a centralized ‘national identity’ on a region that enjoyed democracy and individual freedoms under the British administration until 1997.
Hong Kong, once a quiet backwater of tiny village and fishing communities, became one of the world’s busiest ports and a global financial hub under Britain’s rule. China acquired the region twenty years ago under the promise of “one country, two systems,” vowing not to temper with its democratic and liberal traditions. With Xi Jinping at China’s helm, those promises have now been forgotten. Hong Kong’s pro-China administration is chipping away at those very liberties — with Beijing’s blessing — which made this tiny region one of the wealthiest places on the earth.
China’s expansionist designs are not limited to Hong Kong alone. Communist China has shown little restrain despite the outbreak of a global pandemic from its soil. While the world was battling the Wuhan coronavirus, Chinese fighter jets have repeatedly violated Taiwanese airspace, a country which Beijing regards as a ‘breakaway province.’
With the world’s attention diverted in the wake of the Wuhan virus, China is encroaching on the sovereignty of its maritime neighbors by setting up fictitious local governments on the artificial islands which it created in the South China Sea. The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, and Taiwan have objected to these weaponized man-made islands, many of which are being used as naval harbors, military bases, and even a large airfield. But that isn’t enough to satisfy Communist China. Beijing makes territorial claims on 18 of its neighbors, including along the 2000 mile-long mountainous border with India.
Return of pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong
[Cover image via YouTube]
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