Thousands of students yesterday formed human chains outside schools across Hong Kong to show solidarity after violent weekend clashes between police and activists pushing for democratic reforms in the territory.
The silent protest came as the Hong Kong government condemned the “illegal behavior of radical protesters” and warned the US to stay out of its affairs after thousands of demonstrators on Sunday appealed for Washington’s support.
The government said in a statement that “foreign legislatures should not interfere in any form in the internal affairs” of Hong Kong.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam (林鄭月娥) yesterday visited a subway station vandalized by protesters in an unusual public appearance. A video distributed by the government showed Lam inspecting damage and telling a commuter she was “heartbroken” to see the destruction.
“I hope Hong Kong will be calm again soon and no more violence,” Lam said.
High-school and university students yesterday formed long human chains that snaked into the streets outside their schools, following similar protests last week. They were joined by many graduates wearing the protesters’ trademark black tops and masks.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Many also rallied against what they viewed as excessive use of force by police, with one student carrying a placard that read “Stop violence, we are not rioters.”
Anger was fueled over the weekend after images of a youth being bloodily beaten up by riot police at a subway station were widely shared on social media. The boy, who did not fight back, was pinned to the floor and appeared unconscious in a pool of blood.
Police Public Relations Chief Superintendent Tse Chun-chung (謝振中) told a briefing yesterday that police have received complaints about the case and are investigating.
Photo: AFP
He said police were doing their best to handle escalating violence, with “radical” protesters attacking police and trying to snatch their weapons, adding that 157 people had been detained since Friday.
Hong Kong journalists, some wearing helmets and gas masks, complained at the police briefing that riot police had used pepper spray and threatened colleagues covering the weekend clashes.
Meanwhile, activist Joshua Wong (黃之鋒) was released yesterday, after being detained on Sunday after returning from a trip to Taiwan.
A court said Wong’s overseas trips had been approved earlier and his detention was due to procedural errors. Wong later departed for a trip to Germany and the US.
A Chinese aircraft carrier group entered Japan’s economic waters over the weekend, before exiting to conduct drills involving fighter jets, the Japanese Ministry of Defense said yesterday. The Liaoning aircraft carrier, two missile destroyers and one fast combat supply ship sailed about 300km southwest of Japan’s easternmost island of Minamitori on Saturday, a ministry statement said. It was the first time a Chinese aircraft carrier had entered that part of Japan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), a ministry spokesman said. “We think the Chinese military is trying to improve its operational capability and ability to conduct operations in distant areas,” the spokesman said. China’s growing
Nine retired generals from Taiwan, Japan and the US have been invited to participate in a tabletop exercise hosted by the Taipei School of Economics and Political Science Foundation tomorrow and Wednesday that simulates a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan in 2030, the foundation said yesterday. The five retired Taiwanese generals would include retired admiral Lee Hsi-min (李喜明), joined by retired US Navy admiral Michael Mullen and former chief of staff of the Japan Self-Defense Forces general Shigeru Iwasaki, it said. The simulation aims to offer strategic insights into regional security and peace in the Taiwan Strait, it added. Foundation chair Huang Huang-hsiung
PUBLIC WARNING: The two students had been tricked into going to Hong Kong for a ‘high-paying’ job, which sent them to a scam center in Cambodia Police warned the public not to trust job advertisements touting high pay abroad following the return of two college students over the weekend who had been trafficked and forced to work at a cyberscam center in Cambodia. The two victims, surnamed Lee (李), 18, and Lin (林), 19, were interviewed by police after landing in Taiwan on Saturday. Taichung’s Chingshui Police Precinct said in a statement yesterday that the two students are good friends, and Lin had suspended her studies after seeing the ad promising good pay to work in Hong Kong. Lee’s grandfather on Thursday reported to police that Lee had sent
BUILDUP: US General Dan Caine said Chinese military maneuvers are not routine exercises, but instead are ‘rehearsals for a forced unification’ with Taiwan China poses an increasingly aggressive threat to the US and deterring Beijing is the Pentagon’s top regional priority amid its rapid military buildup and invasion drills near Taiwan, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said on Tuesday. “Our pacing threat is communist China,” Hegseth told the US House of Representatives Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense during an oversight hearing with US General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “Beijing is preparing for war in the Indo-Pacific as part of its broader strategy to dominate that region and then the world,” Hegseth said, adding that if it succeeds, it could derail
RSS