Posted on 01/01/2018 8:56:40 AM PST by GoldenState_Rose
Angry protesters marched through Hong Kong on Monday (Jan 1) against what they described as suppression by Beijing, days after Chinese authorities ruled that part of a city rail station would come under mainland law.
Semi-autonomous Hong Kong has been ruled under a "one country, two systems" deal since Britain returned it to China in 1997 and enjoys rights unseen on the mainland, including freedom of speech and an independent judiciary.
But a string of recent incidents have fuelled concern over the erosion of its autonomy and rule of law, including the jailing of prominent pro-democracy activists.
Campaigner Joshua Wong, who joined thousands of protesters at the march Monday, said suppression by China's Communist Party government had worsened in 2017.
Wong, 21, was jailed in August over his role in the Umbrella Movement mass pro-democracy protests of 2014 and is on bail pending an appeal against his six-month sentence.
"In 2018, I hope that every Hong Konger can become an avenger, and win back the core values eroded by Beijing," Wong told AFP.
Teacher Simon Woo, 47, who joined the march with his wife and daughter said the "survival of Hong Kong is under severe threat", citing the rail terminus agreement as one of the main reasons he was protesting.
"What the Communist Party does and says is irrational. Their attitude towards us is that of an emperor and an autocracy," added Jessica Chan, an education worker in her 30s.
"Hong Kongers cannot accept this." The march was due to culminate outside the city's government offices later Monday.
(Excerpt) Read more at straitstimes.com ...
And only just two days ago did I post this article:
“China’s Coming Revolution”
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3618268/posts
*Ping*
The Trump effect?
Yes!
I’ve long felt that it’s inevitable that we will see another Tiananmen Square-like tragedy in Hong Kong.
Chinese govt has too much to lose either way: they need to suppress dissent and yet if try to pull a Tiannmen they will face immense and costly consequences.
That is what Chinese regime is and will be. It will incrementally take apart Hong Kong's system piece by piece. Then, someday under some convenient pretext, its army will eventually march in and fully annex the whole city once and for all.
I always wonder what if we had the Internet back when Tiananmen Square happened.
Exactly. And now we know why China blocks so many sites including facebook and youtube...
But now there are just too many other ways to get info and images across the world in seconds via apps etc...
Well the stirrings of freedom are alive, but the question is how strong is the collective will of the people to challenge their government in an effective way? Are these protests just last gasps as a newer, increasingly repressive reality takes hold?
And: are the people themselves to blame...for playing along with the government’s game for far too long and allowing materialistic interests to trump freedom...
Or are these signs that Beijing is far more fragile than the world is led to believe...
I think a lot depends on how Chinese Christians will respond to the State in the coming years.
“Hong Kongers cannot accept this.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Yes they will.
China had no intention of allowing freedom to remain in Hong Kong for long.
It threatens the rest of China.
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