Hong Kong: what next?

[Virtual Blue]

Being a Hong Konger, just wonder how does the world outside see what's going on in Hong Kong, and how much of the western world knows about the other side of the story
Moon Blue

I'm partly a Hong Konger (have residence and a flat there) and don't see your point.

 

[moochedit]

Extradition bill withdrawn.

 

[Yossarian]

Think we might have to wait and see what Beijing says about withdrawing the bill - Lam says a proposal to formally withdraw the bill will be filed when LegCo resumes more than a month from now, and a lot can change in a month.

 

[Yossarian]

Statement from 'Guardians of Hong Kong':

Carrie Lam's formal withdraw of the bill does not mean the fight is over

...

Withdrawal of the bill will not simply solve our concerns.

There is no longer any trust in the current system. The Hong Kong government can simply reintroduce the bill back after the election. "Pocketing it First" was the slogan 5 years ago. It is the same method used to appease the public temporarily while working on a method to push unpopular agendas. Meeting one of the easier demands is a way for the Hong Kong government to buy time in order to crush the movement. Furthermore, the freedoms that Hong Kong citizens enjoy have now been fully eroded. They are not getting to the root of the problem which is the Hong Kong government is now in serious violations of human rights. Protesters are now demanding greater democracy and an inquiry into alleged police brutality during past demonstrations. They are calling for true universal suffrage to establish their democratic institutions.

In essence, “Withdrawal" is the same as "Death of the Bill" for the government. It has not changed a thing, but a play of words. It's a cry of wolf.

Therefore, we reiterate the four demands left:

1) Set up an independent commission of inquiry into alleged police brutality
2) Withdraw the classification of ‘riot’ for 612
3) Release the arrested protesters and grant amnesty to political prisoners of this movement
4) Genuine universal suffrage in both Legislative and Executive elections

Our battle has not ended. Hong Kongers will continue our fight. Tragedy will simply repeat itself if the system stays unchanged. We are not giving up after these months of protests"

Five demands. Not one less. No Compromises. Liberate Hong Kong. Revolution of our Times. Fight For Freedom. Stand With Hong Kong.

 

[Yossarian]

 

[Virtual Blue]

...it's not going to end well...all sides lose

 

[Yossarian]

The Chinese national anthem was very loudly booed by the crowd at the Hong Kong-Iran World Cup qualifier Tuesday night.

 

[Yossarian]

Protesters on Lion Rock for the mid-Autumn Festival:

 

[Yossarian]

Light blue is apparently the new white. According to Apple Daily:

At around 1pm today, more than 50 nationalists wearing light blue t-shirts with the words “I Love Police” carried China national flags to the Lennon Wall in Fortress Hill. They removed the posters and memo sheets on the Wall, and chanted slogans outside the Fortress Hill MTR Station.

A few men in blue shirts beat and kicked passersby. Some civilians were kicked and fell on the roadside. Police arrived and separated the blue-clad people and civilians, and asked them to keep calm. Yet the police did not charge the blue-clad people but released them. Instead, a few civilians were stopped and investigated.

 

[Yossarian]

Pro-Beijing lawmaker Junius Ho has called for Saturday to be a "Clean Up Hong Kong" day for supporters to tear down Lennon Walls across the city.

In preparation, protesters have superglued laminated pictures of his face on footbridges:



And somebody put pictures of Momo behind protest posters:

 

[Yossarian]

Unfortunately, many of the walls have been torn down - riot police are guarding the "volunteer cleaners" in some locations, and the cleaners are being moved to and from the locations in police vans.

Protesters are wisely avoiding confrontation, for the most part - the whole thing was widely seen as a trap to try to get a lot of protesters arrested - but I'll be very surprised if the walls aren't replaced, bigger and better, by nightfall.

 

[teqniq]

Demonstartion continue this weekend with the police targetting the press as well.



Hong Kong police fire tear gas, water cannon at protesters only days ahead of China's 70th anniversary celebrations - CNN

 

[Yossarian]

Cops were worse than ever on Sunday, rumour was that they were told to be as aggressive as possible over the weekend in order to discourage people from protesting on Tuesday, the 70th anniversary of the founding of the PRC.

Journalist being pepper-sprayed by grinning psycho:



Cop apparently using protester as human shield:

 

[BristolEcho]

Thanks for the updates as always!

 

[Artaxerxes]

It is of course kicking right off.

 

[Yossarian]

More than 100,000 marched to Central, according to organizers - there's been tear gas and rubber bullets fired in several other districts, and pro-China groups are apparently walking around with Chinese flags attached to metal bars.

 

[Yossarian]

Shots fired in Yau Ma Tei, as apparently captured by an exceptionally fearless photographer.

 

[cupid_stunt]

Shots fired, shit.

 

[not-bono-ever]

The video of the shooting is shocking

 

[gosub]

Seems alright to me. Remember going to a lecture about 25 years ago on HK police , they have GPMG'S in their riot control arsenal. As depressing as spiral of increasing Cantonese on Cantonese violence is , a shot to the shoulder shows some ristrant

 

[skyscraper101]

Fuck this.

HK set to announce ban on face masks at protests

 

[ska invita]

Interesting but not surprising - according to Kevin Lin, International Labor Rights Forum, its not just about China & state oppression, but says protests fuelled by poverty/housing crisis/inequality/much shitter prospects for the young, and thats why theres no backing down...

video extract from this longer interview <lots of interesting bits in there

 

[Yossarian]

Seems alright to me. Remember going to a lecture about 25 years ago on HK police , they have GPMG'S in their riot control arsenal. As depressing as spiral of increasing Cantonese on Cantonese violence is , a shot to the shoulder shows some ristrant

The government was lying about it being a shot to the shoulder - you don't get a bullet in your lung if you're shot in the shoulder. Doctors say the protester is very lucky to survive, especially since police waited several minutes before attempting first aid.

Three minutes can potentially be a difference between life and death because it is the left chest that we are talking about. We are talking about a place in the body where the heart lies, where the lung lies, where the subclavian artery lies … it is extremely fortunate that this student did not die on the scene actually”, the doctor told RTHK's Janice Wong.

Police blasted for delaying treatment to shot teen - RTHK

The day before the protester was shot on China's National Day, police rules on the use of lethal force were relaxed, with the updated regulations saying "officers can fire live rounds when facing an assault that causes, or is 'relatively likely' to cause death or serious injury."

 

[teqniq]

Fuck this.

HK set to announce ban on face masks at protests

 

[Yossarian]

Totally predictably, there were massive protests and chaos across Hong Kong after the mask measure was announced - the MTR was completely shut down and another teenager was shot, apparently by an off-duty cop.

And now Carrie Lam has used the emergency law she'll probably keep invoking it to bring in curfews or other harsh measures if police want her to. Was not a wise move for the British colonial government to have transferred sovereignty to an authoritarian regime while leaving its 1922 "We can do whatever the fuck we want if we claim it's an emergency" law on the books.

14-year-old boy shot in Yuen Long - RTHK

 

[Mr.Bishie]

Also saw today that Apple have been persuaded to ban a location app that protesters have been using - all a bit suss on many levels:

Apple bans Hong Kong protest location app

 

[redsquirrel]

Totally predictably, there were massive protests and chaos across Hong Kong after the mask measure was announced - the MTR was completely shut down and another teenager was shot, apparently by an off-duty cop.

And now Carrie Lam has used the emergency law she'll probably keep invoking it to bring in curfews or other harsh measures if police want her to. Was not a wise move for the British colonial government to have transferred sovereignty to an authoritarian regime while leaving its 1922 "We can do whatever the fuck we want if we claim it's an emergency" law on the books.

14-year-old boy shot in Yuen Long - RTHK

Solidarity to the protestors
You've got to think there's a possibility that things could get very bad very quickly.

(You're no longer there right? If you are hope you stay safe)

 

[Yossarian]

Solidarity to the protestors
You've got to think there's a possibility that things could get very bad very quickly.

(You're no longer there right? If you are hope you stay safe)

Thanks, I'm no longer there, the people I know who are there are definitely getting quite worried and/or angry - seems like the government is doing everything it can to inflame protests instead of calming things down.

 

[Yossarian]

I hope whoever it was that took a digger and drove toward a police station got away safely...

 

[Yossarian]