Paving stones in central Hong Kong have been glued down to prevent protesters using them as missiles, as authorities roll out elaborate security measures ahead of a high-level Chinese visit that could stoke resentment over Chinese rule.
The measures, which include barricades in the territory, come as Beijing tightens its grip on the semi-autonomous territory, where a fledgling independence movement in recent months has angered China. Running battles with police in February, which included “localist” protesters in favor of more autonomy for Hong Kong, saw demonstrators dig up bricks from the street and throw them at officers.
Glue has been poured into the cracks between paving stones near the harborfront convention center where China’s third-ranked Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Zhang Dejiang (張德江) is to speak at an economic conference tomorrow.
Explaining the decision to glue the pavement, the Hong Kong Highways Department said they might be “subject to vandalism.”
Zhang is the most senior official to visit Hong Kong in four years in a trip seen as an attempt to ease tensions and gauge the political temperature — he is to meet with a group of pro-democracy legislators during his visit.
However, some activists have voiced fury over the ensuing security clampdown, with water-filled plastic barricades and metal fencing cordoning off central roads and flyovers.
“Keeping protesters away is ... ridiculous. It makes you feel like you are in North Korea,” said Sham Tsz-kit of the Civil Human Rights Front, which organizes Hong Kong’s annual July 1 political rally, where residents air their grievances against the government.
“Zhang Dejiang is coming here to understand the situation in Hong Kong, but now his eyesight will be completely blocked,” Sham said.
The group said activists would “proactively get close to the convention center,” despite a no-protest security zone set up by police.
Police have termed the security moves “counter-terrorism measures.”
“The security threat is higher than the past,” said a police source. “Activists have become more violent.”
Frustrations have grown among young activists since largely peaceful mass pro-democracy rallies in 2014 failed to bring political reform.
Some activists have said that they would not stop at violence to force change.
Zhang’s visit is also expected to help Beijing assess whether unpopular Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying (梁振英) is a viable candidate for a second term — his current term ends in March next year. Hong Kong is semi-autonomous after being handed back by Britain to China in 1997 and enjoys freedoms unseen in China, but there are growing fears those freedoms are being eroded by Beijing. The disappearance last year of five Hong Kong men connected to a publisher and a bookstore known for publishing salacious titles on Chinese political leaders tapped those deep-seated concerns. All five men resurfaced in China, where four are facing criminal investigation.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese