Thousands of pro-democracy protesters took to Hong Kong’s streets
Friday, defying a warning by Chinese President Xi Jinping, as a campaign
of mass disruption extended into a fifth straight day.
Black-clad protesters also occupied university campuses, while office
workers endured another day of transport chaos with suspensions on the
vandalised train network and roads blocked by barricades.
Hong Kong has seen relentless protests since June as many in the city
of 7.5 million people have vented fury at eroding freedoms under
Chinese rule.
Those protests had been mainly in the evenings and on weekends,
allowing the international financial hub to still function relatively
smoothly during the week albeit with its economy dragged into recession.
With China offering no concessions, protesters switched tactics on
Monday when they launched a “blossom everywhere” campaign to cause as
much disruption as possible across Hong Kong and overwhelm the police
force.
Their actions through the week have caused chaos across Hong Kong and
been accompanied by intensifying violence from both sides — two people
have died in a week in incidents linked to the protests.
The five-day ‘strike’ has also seen major universities become a hub
for the protesters – the first time a movement characterised by its
fluidity and unpredictability has coagulated in fixed locations.
Violence from both sides has also escalated, and tensions have spilt out overseas.
On Thursday night Hong Kong Justice Secretary Teresa Cheng fell in
London after being surrounded by pro-democracy protesters, in the most
physical confrontation involving a member of cabinet since the unrest
began.
Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam on Friday condemned the incident, describing it as a “barbaric attack”.
Cheng walked away from the confrontation without any visible signs of injury.
Stand with Hong Kong
On Friday a “Lunch With You” event saw thousands of mainly office
workers take to the city’s streets, many chanting “Stand with Hong Kong”
and raising an open hand with five fingers splayed.
It is a reference to the five demands of the protest movement, which
include the right to freely elect Hong Kong’s leaders, as well as an
independent inquiry into alleged police brutality.
“The government did not respond even when two million residents
marched peacefully,” a 25-year-old office worker who gave her surname as
Wong said in the city’s Central district, in reference to huge rallies
that were a feature of the start of the movement.
“Now when the police are abusing their power the government… only thinks protesters are the problem.”
The unrest was triggered by opposition to Hong Kong’s government plan
to introduce a law allowing the extradition of criminal suspects to
mainland China.
The government belatedly withdrew the bill months into the unrest,
but by then it had morphed into a much wider campaign for democratic
freedoms and against the police.
Warnings from China
Chinese President Xi on Thursday backed Lam and the police force while
warning the protest movement was threatening the “one country, two
systems” principle governing the semi-autonomous city.
Hong Kong has been ruled by a unique system guaranteeing greater
freedoms than on the mainland since its handover from British rule to
China in 1997.
Xi said “stopping violence and controlling chaos” was the top priority.
With the crisis deepening by the week, fears have grown that Xi’s
patience will run out and Chinese troops will be deployed into to Hong
Kong.
The Global Times, one of the powerful arms of the Chinese state
media, on Thursday fuelled tensions with a tweet reporting that a curfew
was imminent.
The Global Times quickly withdrew the tweet and the Hong Kong’s government denied a curfew was planned.
But Chinese state media continued to pile on the pressure on Friday,
calling for tougher action from the government and indicating a curfew
was still on the cards.
“While it remains to be seen whether a curfew will be introduced,
tougher action is undoubtedly called for,” the China Daily, an
English-language newspaper, said in an editorial.
Chinese media has repeatedly seized on violence from the protesters as the justification of a crackdown.
A 70-year-old man died on Thursday from injuries sustained a day
earlier when he was hit by a brick during clashes between protesters and
people angry with them.
Police on Friday said they had opened a murder case into the man’s death.
On Monday a man arguing with protesters was set on fire by a
black-clad masked person, with that incident caught on camera and posted
online.
On the same day, a police officer shot an unarmed protester at close range.
Popular News
-
A US mayor of a small town in Illinois who sent Police officers on Sunday to break up parties amid coronavirus lockdown was left shocked ...
-
Happy New Month Nigeria! Welcome to the month of June. As the world searches for a respite from all its troubles since 2020 began, one can ...
-
The Osun State Governor, Chief Ademola Adeleke, has escaped a horrific fate, according to a report by Leadership. By a stroke of luck, wh...
-
The Supreme Court has ruled that Nigerians should continue using old N200, N500 and N1000 banknotes as legal tender. The apex court, i...
-
As you are about to choose memory booster supplement, look for anyone that contains the right ingredients that help improve memory and co...
-
Nigeria's number one man, President Bola Tinubu is currently meeting with “The class of 1999 governors” at the presidential villa, Ab...
-
The military has assured Nigerians that it will work in collaboration with other security agencies to ensure that the 2023 general electi...
-
Veteran actress, Kate Henshaw has taken to Instagram to share adorable photos with her daughter. The thespian shared photos of them rock...
-
For the quarter, added 537,000 residential and small enterprise business internet customers versus 380,000 within the prior year quarter....
-
Nigerian workers have been ordered to take over all the offices of the Central Bank of Nigeria nationwide starting from next week over th...
-
Italy have been crowned champions of the 2020 European Championship after defeating England 3-2 in penalties on Sunday night, July 11. ...
-
“Every improvement contributing to your outstanding experience is our daily motivation.” - Remitano Every product and feature on the Rem...
-
For the quarter, added 537,000 residential and small enterprise business internet customers versus 380,000 within the prior year quarter....
-
SMS marketing is a marketing channel which allows businesses to message customers with marketing messages through SMS, or more commonly kn...
-
Breaking news about iceland country incredible but true if you are interested read the full story iceland team was able to achieve an ...
-
Happy New Month Nigeria! Welcome to the month of June. As the world searches for a respite from all its troubles since 2020 began, one can ...
-
An Israeli professor has claimed that coronavirus will disappear after 70 days with or without intervention. The unproven claims were ma...
-
The Remitano founding team has always maintained the belief and vision that blockchain and cryptocurrencies are a big step forward for s...
-
Would you believe it if someone tells you that cayenne pepper has the power to stop a heart attack within a minute? Believe it or not, thi...
-
Apparently, ginger, a well-known spice we frequently add to different dishes to enhance the flavor, has the power to prevent cancer. But, i...
- bitcoin
- bitcoin mining
- Coronavirus
- dr anu nigeria
- coronavirus china
- Benefit Of Ginger Water
- Bobrisky
- Buhari
- coronavirus cure
- benefits of drinking milk
- Biafran War
- coronavirus death rate
- coronavirus outbreak
- dede one day mansion
- coronavirus update
- History of Biafra
- How To Make Ginger Water
- eri
- How to save your phone battery
- is 5g dangerous
- Kobe Bryant
- Jennifer Aniston
- kobe bryant family
- latest nigeria news paper
- kobe bryant wife
- latest on nigeria news
- naija news
- Malignant mesothelioma
- nigeria news
- Mesothelioma survival rates
- newspaper online in nigeria
- nigeria news breaking
- nigeria news headline today
- nigeria news of the day
- nigeria news paper online
- nigeria newspaper
- nigeria news paper today
- nigeria news today & breaking
- nigeria newspaper online
- nigerianewspaper
- nigeria newspapers
- Regina Daniels
- online dating scams
- Side Effects Of Eating Corn
- t mobile data usage
- online nigeria news
- what is tiger nut
- tiger nuts
- Tyson Fury
0 comments:
Post a Comment