Several thousand demonstrators marched in Hong Kong yesterday evening — defying authorities a year after huge pro-democracy protests erupted — as the movement struggles in the face of arrests, COVID-19 bans on crowds and looming national security legislation.
Seven months of massive and often violent rallies began on June 9 last year, when as many as 1 million people took to the streets to oppose a bill allowing extraditions to mainland China.
As Hong Kong leaders dug in, battles between police and protesters became routine, leaving the territory’s reputation for stability in tatters and swathes of the population in open revolt against Beijing’s rule.
Photo: Bloomberg
A year later, protesters are on the back foot, with Beijing planning to impose sweeping legislation banning subversion, secession, terrorism and foreign interference.
Anti-virus measures also forbid more than eight people gathering in public — but small rallies continue.
Defiant crowds gathered last night in the upmarket Central district to march and chant slogans, including “Hong Kong independence, the only way out” and “Fight to the end.”
Photo: Reuters
They marched despite police warnings that force could be used to disperse participants and that they faced up to five years in prison. Riot police later charged at a group of protesters, deploying pepper spray and tackling some to the ground.
“We have been through a lot,” said a 23-year-old protester, who gave his first name as Michael. “But I still have to show my position, come out and tell the regime that we haven’t forgotten.”
Earlier yesterday, organizers of last year’s huge rallies called on the government to lift legitimate protest restrictions as Hong Kong is now largely free of COVID-19 infections.
“This movement has not finished,” said Jimmy Sham (岑子傑) of the Civil Human Rights group, which espouses non-violence.
However, Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam (林鄭月娥), an unpopular pro-Beijing appointee, said the protests must end.
“Hong Kong cannot afford such chaos,” she said, adding that residents needed to prove Hong Kong people “are reasonable and sensible citizens of the People’s Republic of China” if they want their freedoms and autonomy to continue.
Under a deal signed with Britain ahead of the 1997 handover, China agreed to let Hong Kong keep certain freedoms and autonomy for 50 years.
However, protests over the past decade have been fueled by fears those freedoms are being prematurely curtailed, something Beijing denies.
Analysts say the space for dissent has rapidly diminished in the last year.
“I don’t think the passion has subsided much, but the problem is that many actions are now not allowed,” Chinese University of Hong Kong analyst Leung Kai-chi (梁啟智) said.
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