Posted on 08/26/2019 4:37:22 AM PDT by robowombat
Violence Erupts on 12th Weekend of Hong Kong Protests
By VOA News August 25, 2019
Hong Kong police drew their guns, fired tear gas and, for the first time, water cannons at anti-government protesters on Sunday in the 12th weekend of demonstrations.
Thousands of protesters took to the streets, some of them throwing bricks at police, attacking them with sticks and rods and spraying detergent on streets to make it slippery for police. Some of the demonstrators, many in masks and wearing black, broke store windows and hurled tear gas canisters back at police.
Early Monday, police said one officer fell to the ground as protesters hurled objects at police, prompting six officers to withdraw their guns. One officer fired a warning shot skyward, the statement said.
It was the first time any live rounds had been fired since the protests began three months ago.
The vast majority of protesters marched peacefully, but police at times fired bursts of tear gas at wildcat demonstrators who broke away from the largest groups. Some protesters tossed bamboo poles on the street and lined up traffic barriers and cones to obstruct police.
The protests in the major Asian finance center are the biggest threat to peace there since Britain handed over control of Hong Kong to China in 1997. The protesters say they demonstrating against what they see as an erosion of rights under the "one country, two systems" arrangement under which Beijing assumed control of the territory.
Some demonstrators say they have resorted to violent tactics because the government has not responded to their demands. The weeks-long demonstrations in Hong Kong began with calls to stop an extradition bill, which has now been scrapped, but have now expanded to include demands for full democracy.
On Saturday, the protests had turned violent for the first time in nearly two weeks, as hundreds of demonstrators dressed in black and armed with baseball bats and bamboo poles hurled petrol bombs and bricks at police.
Hong Kong police brandished batons and fired volleys of tear gas to disperse the protesters, who had set up makeshift street barricades using bamboo scaffolding outside a police station and a nearby shopping mall.
Meanwhile, China freed a British consulate worker, Simon Cheng, whose detention served to ratchet up tensions. He was detained for 15 days in Shenzhen, just across the border from Hong Kong, for allegedly violating public security management regulations, according to police there.
Authorities say Cheng's legal rights were upheld, claiming he had confessed to the charges for which he was held. This is a standard rejoinder from Chinese police, despite the fact Cheng was not given a chance to defend himself in court. Cheng's family said on Facebook he had now returned to Hong Kong.
Protesters had been demanding his release for the past several days, and Britain said it welcomed the news.
As the rallies entered their third month, protesters also cut down a "smart lamppost" because they feared it was being used for surveillance by Chinese authorities.
Hong Kong's government maintained, however, the lamppost only collected data on traffic, weather and air quality.
“...Violence Erupts ...”
Chuckle... yeah it just “erupts” out of nowhere...
It’s not like paramilitary police from a communist authoritarian regime drawing their guns and commencing Happy Hour with Batons and Tear Gas had ANYTHING to do with the “violence erupting” or anything, no.... couldn’t be...
China is hateful. If its leaders had good sense and wisdom, they would let Hong Kong operate the way it has for the previous 99 years, making oodles and gobs of money.
You don’t have to convince me that China won’t blink in killing if it has to.
But weren’t the things the police did in response to being hit with bricks, etc?
If things continue this way, though, there will be a lot of dead bodies in the street.
The cops have got to be on the side of the protesters since they grew up there. Can’t see them taking orders from fascists.
Ya see, these cops gotta feed their families and pay their bills and keep the roof over their families’ heads.
It’s hard to disobey when you need that income.
But I hope you’re right.
“...being hit with bricks...”
Could be, but the people of Hong Kong - at least those in the streets, and they’re probably representative of a LOT more who aren’t in the streets with them - don’t want the mainland government involved in their lives.
But the mainland government really really really REALLY wants to be involved. So they’re going to force the issue.
And if a couple of well-placed agent provocateurs in the crowd chucking a few bricks is all the excuse it takes to send in the “Tianamen Tank and Rodeo Show”, then you can pretty much count on the body count that will follow.
Communists kill. It’s what they do. It’s the ONLY thing they’re good at.
Alas, American polce have no batons to brandish against masked rioters or common resisters of arrest
Agreed.
Communists indeed have no problem killing if necessary, but they are also very practical. China in fact doesn't need to do anything so drastic. HK is on the periphery of their political system and the politburo is probably united on the issue - so there is no immediate threat to China's stability or the Party itself.
They will probably quietly send more agents to "advise" HK Government and police, but otherwise, they will let HK twist in the wind, let the HK economy decline and try and slowly build a narrative that the protestors are hurting HK.
Wow.
Good analysis.
It’s the sensible (and of course terrible) thing to do for China.
“But the mainland government really really really REALLY wants to be involved. So theyÕre going to force the issue.”
Funny. That’s what leftists do. Health care, gun control-u name it.
Good analysis.
I also heard that the mainland government is employing criminal gangs to attack protesters. I don’t know if that’s true. A friend of mine who spends a lot of time in China told me this.
Somebody is - probably local business cronies connected to China. Criminal gangs and similar "secret societies" have been used as political street forces and muscle throughout Chinese history. In undemocratic, top-down societies, one rules (and skims wealth) through force and patronage networks. Why did gangsters take over Russia when the Soviet Union collapsed? Because they were there all along.
The one item missing from your analysis is that October 1 is the 70th anniversary of the communists coming to power. It’s my understanding the CCP is bound and determined to celebrate the glories of the Party on that day, and so Hong Kong must be pacified no later than a couple of weeks before then.
This is how the local shoppers reacted when the “thugs” arrived at a mall in Shatin yesterday:
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=493444594799508
The Chicom needs to order Facebook to remove this video because it is against their narrative.
Modern technology and instant video is probably the only reason China hasn’t clamped down hard and killed many to “set the tone”.
Ask a Uyghur how this is going to turn out.
True. But I suspect this will end with a lot of people dead.
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