Hong Kong protests Chinese extradition bill

asianobserve

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At its core its merely a pro democracy movement that's all that is. Now who supports it and who doesn't is a different game but I seriously doubt that west is behind starting this agitation, they might be fuling it, but so are we and millions of other free countries around the world. I wouldn't certainly wanna live with a regime, I cannot sue, if they decide to unilaterally takeover my property and cut me off of the world and restrict my freedom of thought and faith.

This latest protests and violence we're seeing recently is not orvhestrated by the CIA. It is a direct result of CCP puppet Lam trying to surrender the 2-system rule through her proposed extradition treaty. Obviously, HK people are not stupid. They immediately saw the writing in the wall of thst legislative proposal, complete CCP's control and the banishment of HK's freedoms.
 

Illusive

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This latest protests and violence we're seeing recently is not orvhestrated by the CIA. It is a direct result of CCP puppet Lam trying to surrender the 2-system rule through her proposed extradition treaty. Obviously, HK people are not stupid. They immediately saw the writing in the wall of thst legislative proposal, complete CCP's control and the banishment of HK's freedoms.
The writing in the wall was written way back, they should have resisted to stay independent.
 

asianobserve

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The writing in the wall was written way back, they should have resisted to stay independent.
CCP's premature efforts to relegate the 2-system rule has been slow but steadily building up. The kidnapping of HK booksellers to China I think made most Hongkongers realize that there's no fair justice system in mainland China and that CCP really does not care such things as rule of law and democracy that Hongkongers have enjoyed all their lives. So when Lam tried to hitch-hike Hongkong's judicisl indepence via a stealthy surrender pact on the back of a Taiwan murder case, in the form of an extradition bill, Hongkongers, of all age brackets but especially the youth, immediately saw it as it is.
 
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Illusive

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Hong Kong emergency law ‘marks start of authoritarian rule’

The invocation of a draconian law to quell a four-month unrest in Hong Kong has signalled the start of an authoritarian era that will plunge the city in a worse crisis, analysts and Hong Kongers have said.

The Hong Kong leader, Carrie Lam, announced on Friday that the government had invoked the Emergency Regulations Ordinance to pass a regulation forbidding the use of face masks. The decision bypassed the legislature, which resumes sessions in mid-October.

Lam said the move was designed to stop violence and restore calm, but the government was prepared for immediate protests and a weekend of escalating violence: government employees were sent home early, schools were closed early on Friday and all school activities were cancelled on Saturday. Many shopping malls, banks and businesses were also closed.

Thousands thronged on to the streets after Lam made the announcement on Friday afternoon. After dark, crowds lit fires at two metro stations and vandalised shops and businesses regarded as being pro-China. Police threw teargas and an off-duty officer reportedly fired a live round, hitting a 14-year-old boy in the thigh, after protesters attacked him.

Political analysts said the use of the emergency law signalled the start of authoritarian rule in the semi-autonomous city.

Hong Kong has had civil freedoms under China’s one country, two system policy since 1997. Although many have been eroded over the years, the emergency regulations were expected quickly eradicate many fundamental rights.

“This symbolises very much the beginning of authoritarianism,” said Joseph Cheng, a retired political science professor at the City University of Hong Kong. “The Pandora’s box is opened. This law gives the government widespread power to do anything it likes. There is no more check and balance.

“Suppression has begun, and there are no more considerations for reconciliation,” he said.

The ordinance, created by the colonial British government to break up port strikes in 1922, was last used in 1967 to quell pro-communist riots. It grants the city’s leader sweeping powers to “make any regulations” he or she may consider to be in the public interest in situations considered “an occasion of emergency or public danger”.

The regulations empower the government to impose a series of draconian measures, including censorship, control and suppression of publications and other means of communications, arrest, detention and deportation as well as the freezing of assets, the authorisation of the entry and search of premises, and the taking of possession or control of any property.

“Now the government has set the precedent of legislating by decree, more could come and it is a slippery slope,” said Ho-fung Hung, a professor of political economy at the Johns Hopkins University in the US.

“Investors’ confidence in Hong Kong’s rule of law and freedom of speech, the two cornerstones of Hong Kong’s status as a global financial hub, are in jeopardy.”

Lam threatened to implement harsher measures if the protests continued. Police groups have called for a citywide curfew, and there have been talks about delaying district elections planned for November.

Many Hongkongers fear the government could use the emergency provisions to force through unpopular proposed laws and policies, such as a subversion law that was suspended in 2003 after a mass protest, a national anthem law and the criminalisation of insults against the police.

“Hong Kong has become a dictatorial government. Now the floodgate is open, they can do what they like with the infinite power they have,” said an 18-year-old school leaver who wore a black face mask in protest at Lam’s announcement. “Like at a buffet, she picked the mask ban this time, and she is free to pick two or three more later as she wishes.”

Apart from mandating schools to close, the government closed public culture and leisure facilities on Saturday and ordered teachers to ask parents to ensure their children refrained from wearing face masks at school. Many students, mostly in secondary schools, have worn medical masks while staging anti-government protests outside their schools.

All the metro train services remained suspended for most of Saturday, after being closed late on Friday.

Jean-Philippe Béja, a research emeritus professor at the centre for international studies and research at Sciences-Po in Paris, said the government was trying to “scare people with an atmosphere of war” and “many people will see this as a provocation”.

Analysts said the emergency measure risked fuelling an even more violent and widespread resistance.

“It is an attempt to extinguish a fire with gasoline,” Ho said. “It will only make protesters more determined and militant.”

One protester, who has been demonstrating since June, said: “I would keep coming out and I would keep wearing a mask. I’m angry and also sad, because the government has declared war on the people.”

Another protester, who refused to be identified, said further draconian measures, such as a curfew, sending in the Chinese army and taking control of communications, were all within his expectations. However, he insisted the militant protesters would be ready for any such moves as part of their “scorched earth” strategy.
“If we burn, we burn together. Don’t forget, us young people have nothing to lose,” he said.
 

angeldude13

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At this point someone just need to arm Hong Kongers and let china burn.
 

Illusive

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Apple has removed an app used by Hong Kong protesters to track police movements after the Chinese Communist Party’s official newspaper called the app “poisonous”.

Big Tech once again caving to one of the biggest human rights abusers on the planet.
 

Illusive

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Hong Kong police, protesters clash; hundreds of shops trashed

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hong Kong police and protesters exchanged tear gas and petrol bombs as an illegal anti-government march that attracted tens of thousands descended into chaos, with hundreds of shops trashed and Chinese banks and metro stations targeted.

After two weeks of relative calm, the major rally showed that the pro-democracy campaign had not lost support and that hardcore protesters will continue to clash with police.

Protesters dressed in black erected fiery barriers on Nathan Road, a major retail strip in the Kowloon district, as scores of riot police, shields in front, marched toward them, while others fired tear gas.

Protesters earlier threw petrol bombs at the nearby Tsim Sha Tsui police station after police inside fired volleys of tear gas to disperse protesters on the street.
A police water canon truck sprayed jets of blue-dye into the crowd at the police station, sending hundreds fleeing. Police have used the blue dye to identify protesters.

Dozens of riot police vans then descended on Nathan Road, along with water canon trucks. It was the heaviest use of water canons by police and many people hit with the water developed coughs, suggesting an irritant may be mixed with the water.

Police used trucks to smash through protest barriers.

Along the march route, protesters trashed metro stations and hundreds of shops, throwing goods onto the streets. Several Chinese banks were targeted.

Hong Kong has been battered by months of often massive and violent protests over concerns that Beijing is tightening its grip on the city, the worst political crisis since Britain handed the city back to China in 1997.

The protests in the Chinese-ruled city also pose the biggest popular challenge to China’s President Xi Jinping since he took power. Beijing has denied eroding Hong Kong’s freedoms and Xi has vowed to crush any attempt to split China.

The unrest was sparked by a bill that would have allowed extradition to mainland China for trial in Communist Party-controlled courts. It has since widened into a pro-democracy movement.

Protesters have targeted Chinese banks and shops with links to mainland China, leaving mainland Chinese living in Hong Kong worried about their safety.

“HONGKONGERS RESIST”
Police had declared Sunday’s march illegal due to concerns over public safety. Protesters, ranging from young students to the elderly, many carrying umbrellas to shield their faces from street surveillance cameras, face arrest.

For the first few hours, the march was peaceful.

At the start of the march banners reading “Free Hong Kong” stretched across the ground. Other posters read “HongKongers Resist”, while graffiti on one wall said “Better Dead than Red”.

Hardcore protesters, who have staged months of running battles with police, set up road blocks and sprayed graffiti saying: “We chose to die on our feet rather than live on our knees!”. Some tore up pavement bricks for clashes with police.

Protesters believe the police refusal to issue a permit for Sunday’s march was an attempt to limit their numbers, as some would fear being arrested.


“The government pretends we just want to destroy the city. We’ll be out for as long as it takes to let the world know it is them who are destroying it,” said Ray, 24, who planned to go home after a few hours as he feared arrest. Like most protesters, he did not want to give his full name.

Hong Kong is governed under a “one country, two systems” formula, which permits the city freedoms not available on the mainland such as an independent judiciary.

Protesters are angry at Hong Kong’s leader Carrie Lam for what they see as her failure to protect those freedoms from an encroaching Beijing, imposing colonial-era emergency powers, and allowing what they say is excessive force by police.

“Carrie Lam is not listening to us at all. This may work in China but not in Hong Kong,” said Cheung, a 33-year-old woman wearing a face mask and black Tshirt, symbols of the democracy movement.

“You can’t ask a city that already has freedom to walk backward. You can’t do this in an international city,” she said, adding she was not afraid of being arrested.

Sunday’s violence comes after Lam’s annual policy address last Wednesday failed to address protesters’ demands.

Protesters have 5 core demands: universal suffrage, an independent inquiry into police action against protesters, amnesty for those charged, and an end to describing protesters as rioters, and the formal withdrawal of the extradition bill.

Lam has said the bill is dead, but it is yet to be formally withdrawn. She has rejected the other demands. On Sunday she said a police complaints inquiry will be completed before the end of the year.

Two people have been shot and wounded by police and thousands injured since the protests escalated in June. Police have arrested more than 2,300 people.

The Asian financial hub is facing its first recession in a decade because of the unrest, with retail and tourism badly hurt. On Sunday shops, both luxury and small, were closed along the march route.

The city’s metro, which carries some 5 million people daily, will again shut early.

 

s002wjh

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Apple has removed an app used by Hong Kong protesters to track police movements after the Chinese Communist Party’s official newspaper called the app “poisonous”.

Big Tech once again caving to one of the biggest human rights abusers on the planet.
you might want to check India human freedom index, which is rank 110 vs china 135, not so much different where HK rank 3 in the world, rank 1 in term of economic freedom. HK rating is downgraded after the violence there. If Beijing really encroach HK freedom, HK would not be in the top 3 ranking for the past decade or so. HK human freedom index rating is higher than UK or US and most western countries. the only thing it lack is the free election part. Though China did grab bookseller without legal base which could be said as intrusion.

https://www.cato.org/human-freedom-index-new

The jurisdictions that took the top 10 places, in order, were New Zealand, Switzerland, Hong Kong, Australia, Canada, the Netherlands and Denmark (tied in 6th place), Ireland and the United Kingdom (tied in 8th place), and Finland, Norway, and Taiwan (tied in 10th place). Selected countries rank as follows: Germany (13), the United States and Sweden (17), Republic of Korea (27), Japan (31), France and Chile (32), Italy (34), South Africa (63), Mexico (75), Kenya (82), Indonesia (85), Argentina and Turkey (tied in 107th place), India and Malaysia (tied in 110th place), United Arab Emirates (117), Russia (119), Nigeria (132), China (135), Pakistan (140), Zimbabwe (143), Saudi Arabia (146), Iran (153), Egypt (156), Iraq (159), Venezuela (161), and Syria (162).
 
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Illusive

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you might want to check India human freedom index, which is rank 110 vs china 135, not so much different where HK rank 3 in the world, rank 1 in term of economic freedom. HK rating is downgraded after the violence there. If Beijing really encroach HK freedom, HK would not be in the top 3 ranking for the past decade or so. HK human freedom index rating is higher than UK or US and most western countries. the only thing it lack is the free election part. Though China did grab bookseller without legal base which could be said as intrusion.

https://www.cato.org/human-freedom-index-new
It's Hong Kong vs China isn't it... Not India.

Looking at the ranking no wonder the people are fighting tooth and nail against chinese intrusion.

'Five demands, not one less': Hong Kong protesters erect barricades, throw firebombs; police fire tear gas, use water canons.

  • Protesters flooded the city's streets on Sunday in defiance of a ban by the authorities on their march, setting up roadblocks and tossing firebombs
  • Residents jeered at riot police walking alongside the vehicles, cursing them and telling them to leave
  • The police told people they were part of an illegal assembly and warned them to leave, and unleashed rounds of tear gas.

Hong Kong: Protesters flooded the city's streets on Sunday in defiance of a ban by the authorities on their march, setting up roadblocks and tossing firebombs amid the firing of tear gas by police.

Protest leaders carried a black banner at the front of the procession that read, "Five main demands, not one less," as they pressed their calls for accountability and political rights in the semi-autonomous Chinese territory.

Police beefed up security measures for the unauthorised rally, the latest chapter in unrest that has disrupted life in the financial hub since early June.

Black-clad and masked protesters barricaded streets at multiple locations in Kowloon, where the city's subway operator restricted passenger access. The protesters tore off stones from the sidewalk and scattered them on the road, commandeered plastic safety barriers and unscrewed metal railings to form makeshift roadblocks. They sang the protest movement's anthem and held up placards depicting the Chinese flag as a Nazi swastika.

Matthew Lee, a university student, said he was determined to keep protesting even after more than four months. "I can see some people want to give up, but I don't want to do this because Hong Kong is my home, we want to protect this place, protect Hong Kong," he said. "You can't give up because Hong Kong is your home.
 

s002wjh

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HK is part of china no one can change that. The issue with HK protests these day are too much violence, it's counter productive. The demand are too high that the government is not gonna accept it especially under violate protests conditions. The rankings shows HK are top 3 in the world. If china intrude HK it will drop much lower by now. This is evidence that china hasn't intrude HK on a larger scale. Its also against china interest to intrude HK since HK attract investment due to its freedom index
 
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Armand2REP

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HK is part of china no one can change that
As it stands now China is in violation of the 50 years of One Nation Two Systems clause of the handover treaty. That means it falls back to British control.
 

asianobserve

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At this point someone just need to arm Hong Kongers and let china burn.
I cannot subscribe to this proposal. For me Hongkong is a second home. I love its efficiency, good food, business opportunities, clean and relatively smal area. Hence, I am disheartened to see what's happening there. But at the same time I fully understand the sentiments og Hongkongers. Hongkong will not be Hongkong anymore once CCP rules it.
 

asianobserve

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As it stands now China is in violation of the 50 years of One Nation Two Systems clause of the handover treaty. That means it falls back to British control.
Unfortunately UK is in nonposition to wage a 3rd war with China for Hongkong.
 

amoy

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I was in HK mid Aug. & early Sept.

I felt anxious as HK airport was totally blocked by protesters and many flights had been cancelled. Fortunately by the time of my departure the airport was close to normalcy after an injunction back in Aug.. Reportedly a few Cathay pilots / stewardess / union activist & airport workers were fired who sympathized with the protest, by such as broadcasting on a flight in support of the "peaceful" boycott , or conspiring to paralyze the airport.

When I flew back in Sept. the Airport Express skipped midway stops due to blockades thus it took me extra transit via MTR (metro). The airport looked not as crowed as usual. Airport workers sounded very warm-hearted giving me guidance.

Protesters are mostly targeting the police, and public transportation , burning down metro stations and trains, or vandalizing banks, Xiaomi shops etc., mostly of those visibly associated with Mainland Chinese , and offices 0f pro-establishment political parties / unions / legislators.

For ordinary poeple it's safe so long as one stays away from those protest areas, not openly expressing opposition to the protests, and not speaking Mandarin (to be identified as non-HK local).



A student standing on the desk. the man in white with a tie - President of the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He was condemning the president for "not assisting arrested students".
 
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