HONG KONG — Under bursts of rain and occasional rumbles of thunder, protesters packed the streets in several areas of Hong Kong on Saturday, days after both the demonstrators and the police came under criticism for taking violence and mayhem to new levels.
The events scheduled for the weekend, which began with a rally led by teachers, underscore the breadth and variety of the protest movement. The wave of demonstrations began in June to oppose a now-suspended bill that would allow extraditions to mainland China. But the movement has broadened to include other demands, including universal suffrage and an investigation of the police.
[What’s going on in Hong Kong? Here’s a look at how the protests have evolved.]
Brenda Chow, 55, a substitute teacher, was among the thousands who gathered in the Central district for the rally Saturday morning. “We are here to protect our students, to protect our children and to voice our demands,” Ms. Chow said.
In the afternoon, crowds marched with umbrellas through the residential districts of Hung Hom and To Kwa Wan, in an event meant to draw attention to the influx of tour groups from mainland China. Some demonstrators see the increase in visitors from the mainland as one aspect of China’s growing presence in Hong Kong, a former British colony that has been a semiautonomous territory since its return to Chinese rule in 1997.
“Our community has been disturbed,” said Andy Choi, 37, an engineer who has lived in the area for seven years. “Our parking lots have been remodeled as spaces for tourist buses.”
Protest activity in Hong Kong had quieted somewhat in the days before, as if all sides were stopping to catch their breath. Street clashes became intense in several parts of the city last Sunday, with the police firing tear gas into a subway station and the authorities accusing protesters of hurling gasoline bombs.
On Tuesday, there was a night of chaos at Hong Kong’s international airport, where demonstrators had forced flight cancellations for two straight days. Protesters confronted a man they accused of being a mainland Chinese police officer, pushing him to the ground and kicking him until he fainted, prompting an evacuation by ambulance.
They also surrounded a reporter for a Chinese state-run newspaper, bound his hands and feet, punched him and searched his belongings. Protesters later apologized for their behavior.
The United Nations’ human rights chief, Michelle Bachelet, said this past week that there was evidence that the Hong Kong police had violated international standards for the use of less-lethal weapons like tear gas. In a statement, she urged the authorities to act with restraint.
An animal-protection group had organized a rally for Saturday evening, to call on the police to stop sending police dogs to protest scenes, and to stop using tear gas in residential areas where they could cause discomfort to animals nearby. But organizers said Saturday morning that the event was canceled.
Protest leaders hope for a large turnout on Sunday in Victoria Park, in the Causeway Bay district. They had applied for a permit to march from the park to Central, essentially the same route taken in two enormous marches against the extradition bill in June, but the police turned them down. Organizers have appealed that decision, saying that it puts people in danger because many are likely to march regardless.
Some people marching in Hung Hom on Saturday chanted, “Go to Victoria Park on Aug. 18!”
An early sign of the movement’s continued vitality came Friday evening, when a rally in Central drew thousands of people. The gathering was peaceful and largely over by 10 p.m.
Surrounded by some of Hong Kong’s skyscrapers, the crowd watched a video message from Brian Leung, a protester known for deliberately removing his mask to show his face after he and others stormed the local legislature’s building in July. He has since left Hong Kong and faces possible arrest if he returns.
“Uncertainty surely abounds when it comes to my future,” Mr. Leung said. “I would still put the movement over my safety.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/17/world/asia/hong-kong-protests.html
2019-08-17 09:33:45Z
CAIiENBtgHHmlXkr4lwuPFFruHkqFwgEKg8IACoHCAowjuuKAzCWrzww5oEY
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar