Protesters say they are determined to keep up the pressure on local authorities. AFP/Nicolas Asfouri
By Jerome Taylor and Su Xinqi | AFP
ON THE WEB, 1 December 2019
Police fired tear gas and pepper spray in Hong Kong on Sunday as tens of thousands of black-clad protesters flooded into the streets, a week after pro-democracy candidates scored a landslide local election victory.
The rally heralded an end to a rare lull and a return to the large-scale demonstrations that Hong Kongers have staged for nearly six months, fuelled by growing fears that authoritarian China is stamping out the city’s liberties.
It also marked a resumption of the increasingly violent confrontations between protesters and police, with officers shooting volleys of tear gas at crowds that included children.
The day’s main rally in the Tsim Sha Tsui neighbourhood was one of three called for Sunday, as protesters seek to keep pressure on the government after the November 24 district council elections.
“The government are still not listening to us so the protests will go on, they will not stop,” said a 20-year-old student who gave only his surname, Chen.
“It is hard to predict what will happen. But the people are still very angry and want change.”
The rally started peacefully, with people flooding to the waterside neighbourhood by ferry and train.
“Never forget why you started,” read a banner carried by protesters taking part in the march.
A little girl with her hair in pigtails led chants reiterating the movement’s demands for direct elections of the city legislature and leadership.
We have to keep going
But as part of the march ran into a phalanx of police, protesters were told to move back and warned they were straying from the permitted route.
First pepper spray and then tear gas was fired at several locations, in one case catching in the crossfire an older man selling drinks and ice creams from a converted moped.
“I’ve sold all my drinks but it seems that I can’t leave now,” he told reporters, his eyes streaming.
But he quickly recovered, tucking into a red ice lolly pulled from his stocks.
“I have nothing to be ashamed of or guilty about,” he said with a smile.
Police said they used tear gas after some protesters threw “smoke bombs”.
Hong Kong’s Beijing-backed chief Carrie Lam has offered no additional concessions in the wake of the elections, and protesters said they felt compelled to return to the streets.
“The government has given no real response, it’s unacceptable,” 19-year-old student Edmund told AFP.
“We have to keep going. We are fighting for our freedom, not just our own freedom but the next generation too. If we give up now all will be lost.”
Earlier, a smaller rally marched peacefully to the US consulate to thank American lawmakers for passing legislation backing the protest movement.
The main rally dispersed as night fell but some protesters moved to other parts of the city.
Throughout the evening tear gas was fired in multiple locations as hardcore protesters vandalised businesses seen as being pro-Beijing and threw projectiles at police.
Officers were seen making multiple arrests.
Fears of fresh violence
Months into the huge protests kicked off by opposition to a bill allowing extradition to China, demonstrators still appear to command widespread support — with the victory of pro-democracy candidates undercutting government claims of a “silent majority” opposed to the movement.
Ahead of Sunday’s rallies there were calls from organisers for people to remain “highly restrained”, with fears of a return to the violence that has marked more recent months in the political crisis.
Operators of the city’s subway — which has been repeatedly vandalised after stations were closed ahead of protests while police officers were transported to rally sites — said it would resume full service on Monday.
But flare-ups of violence remain.
On Saturday night a video in Mongkok district showed a protester brutally assaulting a man as he attempted to clear a barricade.
A voice in the video mocks the man, who stumbled and slumped over after being hit across the head with a heavy metal object.
Police confirmed the incident in a statement: “So far no one has been arrested. The victim suffered a serious head injury and was sent to hospital.”
In a radio interview on Sunday morning, police chief Tang Ping-keung slammed the violence.
“It could have killed him,” Tang said.
There is no end in sight for the turbulence in Hong Kong because the HK Government is hamstrung by Beijing’s belligerence and recalcitrance. Carrie Lam is a lame duck and she is unable to do anything on her own without the orders of the Beijing dictators. She represents the CCP and is accountable to Beijing and not to the people of Hong Kong. That is why she is a mere spectator rather than the linchpin in resolving the issue which has been dragging on for six months. On the other hand the dictator’s hands are also tied behind their backs owing to the cognisance taken by the West and especially the US. So, it’s a stalemate.
The CCP’s behaviour across the world has alarmed the Western world and there is growing suspicion about China’s intentions. There is widespread unease and lack of faith in China and criticism of its human rights abuse is getting more shrill. For the HK people, signing of the HK bill by Trump is a cushion against CCP’s attempt to intimidate them with show of force by the PLA.
In all likelihood, the stalemate is here to stay and unless and until one party blinks, there is no likelihood of ending the protests. The fundamental cause of this conflict is the inability of the CCP to change its behaviour and its orthodoxy in clinging to an archaic and discredited ideology. The winds of democracy have swept the world of Marxism and its citadels have fallen, but the CCP is hanging on obtrusively. This has made the CCP look like a leper across the world where every nation and especially the democratic countries are all on tenterhooks about CCP intrusion and influence. The CCP is waiting for the protests to fizzle out while the protests are raging to grant them the right to elect their leader. Neither seems to give in and so it drags on like a train wreck.