Chaos engulfed Hong Kong’s financial heart yesterday as police fired tear gas and a water cannon at Molotov cocktail-throwing protesters, who defied a ban on rallying — and mounting threats from China — to take to the streets for a 13th straight weekend.
Police had banned the demonstration on security grounds and on Friday arrested several key advocates and legislators in a dragnet on pro-democracy figures.
However, yesterday afternoon, large crowds — many in their signature black T-shirts and under a colorful canopy of umbrellas — defied the order and snaked through Hong Kong Island, blocking roads and chanting “reclaim Hong Kong, revolution of our times.”
Photo: EPA/EFE
As evening fell, violence ricocheted through the commercial center of the territory, with a minority of hardcore protesters unleashing a barrage of Molotov cocktails and rocks at riot police.
Police fired a water cannon and rounds of tear gas to disperse protesters massed at a barricade in front of the Hong Kong Legislative Council, which was stormed in July during the early days of the protest movement.
They briefly broke through the barrier outside the building, but were repelled by tear gas and jets of blue-colored liquid fired from the water cannon.
Local media reported that the colored spray aimed to make it easier to identify suspects.
“Peaceful protest doesn’t work,” 22-year-old demonstrator Stone told reporters, giving one name. “I think they [the hardcore protesters] have to vent their anger to achieve something.”
As protesters streamed away, graffiti on a pillar inside a nearby metro station read: “We shall never surrender.”
Earlier, protesters marched by the official residence of embattled, Beijing-backed Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam (林鄭月娥), who is the focal point of anger after trying to pass a bill that would have allowed extradition to China.
Opposition to the extradition bill — now suspended, but not permanently withdrawn — has brought much of Hong Kong to the streets, with millions marching peacefully, but also groups of radical protesters clashing with police.
The protests have expanded into a wider pro-democracy call and a rejection of attempts by Beijing to curtail the freedoms of the semi-autonomous territory.
Protesters were in a defiant mood throughout yesterday, which marked the fifth anniversary of Beijing’s rejection of a call for universal suffrage for Hong Kong that sparked the 79-day “Umbrella movement” in 2014.
Many demonstrators were determined not to let the new movement fizzle out like the Umbrella protests did.
“It’s ‘now or never’ for Hong Kong,” said a 33-year-old accountant who gave her surname as Wong. “I’m a mother of two. They didn’t come today, but their grandmother did. We’re defending the right of assembly for the next generation in Hong Kong.”
At least five high-profile advocates and three lawmakers were arrested on Friday in a sweep aimed at defanging the rally.
Rights groups have said the tactics are cribbed directly from Beijing’s protest playbook.
Two of the Umbrella movement’s leaders, Joshua Wong (黃之鋒) and Agnes Chow (周庭), were among those arrested, charged and bailed for “inciting others to take part in unauthorized assembly.”
Police confirmed the arrests of the lawmakers, but denied the sweep was timed specifically to weaken the weekend’s protests.
More than 900 people have been arrested since June in connection to protests.
In an attempt to sidestep yesterday’s ban, crowds earlier carried Christian crosses and sang Hallelujah in religious gatherings — which do not require the same stringent permission from authorities.
The demonstrators, who have earned a reputation for their creativity and unpredictability, also called for “mass shopping trips” in the city center.
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2