China’s central government firmly supports Hong Kong authorities and police in safeguarding public order and punishing those who break the law, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said in Beijing’s first reaction to a riot in Hong Kong earlier this week.
Sixty-four people have been arrested in connection with the violence on Monday, the first day of the Lunar New Year holiday. Protesters hurled bricks at police and set fire to trash cans in Mong Kok.
The ministry said in a statement late on Thursday that Hong Kong was a society governed by the rule of law.
“The Chinese central government believes and firmly supports the Hong Kong government and the police in safeguarding social security, protecting Hong Kong residents and their property, and punishing illegal and criminal activities in accordance with the law,” the statement said.
More than 130 people were wounded in the clashes.
The violence has compounded a sense of unease since an “Occupy Central” pro-democracy movement in late 2014 that saw thousands of protesters block major roads, including in Mong Kok, to demand Beijing’s leaders allow full democracy in the territory.
Thirty-seven people were charged on Thursday with participating in a “riot.” Three more appeared in court yesterday, including a 15-year-old.
Outside the courthouse, several supporters of the defendants scuffled with a small group of men who held up banners denouncing Monday’s violence.
Hong Kong Justice Secretary Rimsky Yuen (袁國強) said the riot charge, rarely used in Hong Kong, was leveled because of what he called the seriousness of the incident.
He also said it was a “big test” of the rule of law in the territory.
“I think everyone would agree that unlawful violence would not be the appropriate way to express one’s political demands and one’s political motives,” Yuen told reporters.
He said authorities would consider pressing more charges in coming weeks after examining more evidence.
The ministry said the riot was “plotted mainly by a local radical separatist organization.”
“The violence quickly subsided as the Hong Kong police took effective measures in a professional manner with restraint and in accordance with the law,” the statement said.
At least one of those charged in connection with the riot belongs to a group called Hong Kong Indigenous, one of a cluster of outspoken groups calling for greater Hong Kong autonomy and even independence from China.
School bullies in Singapore are to face caning under new guidelines, but the education minister on Tuesday said it would be meted out only as a last resort with strict safeguards. Human rights groups regularly criticize Singapore for the use of corporal punishment, which remains part of the school and criminal justice systems, but authorities have defended it as a deterrent to crime and serious misconduct. Caning was discussed in the parliament after legislators asked how it would be used in relation to bullying in schools. The debate followed stricter guidelines on serious student misconduct, including bullying, unveiled by the Singaporean Ministry of
As evening falls in Fiji’s capital, a steady stream of people approaches a makeshift clinic that is a first line of defense against one of the world’s fastest-growing HIV epidemics. In the South Pacific nation — a popular tourist destination of just under a million people — more than 2,000 new HIV cases were recorded last year, a 26 percent increase from 2024. The government has declared an HIV outbreak and described it as a national crisis. “It’s spreading like wildfire,” said Siteri Dinawai, 46, who came to be tested. The Moonlight Clinic, a converted minibus parked in a suburban cul-de-sac in Suva, is
Jailed media entrepreneur Jimmy Lai (黎智英) has been awarded Deutsche Welle’s (DW) freedom of speech award for his contribution to Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement. The German public broadcaster on Thursday said Lai would be presented in absentia with the 12th iteration of the award on June 23 at the DW Global Media Forum in Bonn. Deutsche Welle director-general Barbara Massing praised the 78-year-old founder of the now-shuttered news outlet Apple Daily for standing “unwaveringly for press freedom in Hong Kong at great personal risk.” “With Apple Daily, he gave journalists a platform for free reporting and a voice to the democracy movement in
A MESSAGE: Japan’s participation in the Balikatan drills is a clear deterrence signal to China not to attack Taiwan while the US is busy in the Middle East, an analyst said The Japan Self-Defense Forces yesterday fired a Type 88 anti-ship missile during a joint maritime exercise with US, Australian and Philippine forces, hitting a decommissioned Philippine Navy ship in waters facing the disputed South China Sea, in drills that underscore Tokyo’s rising willingness to project military power on China’s doorstep. The drill took place as Manila and Tokyo began talks on a potential defense equipment transfer, made possible by Japan’s decision to scrap restrictions on military exports. The discussions include the possible early transfer of Abukuma-class destroyers and TC-90 aircraft to the Philippines, Japanese Minister of Defense Shinjiro Koizumi said. Philippine Secretary of
RSS