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| How six months of protests changed Hong Kong forever | |
| 2019-12-21 | |
Since the protests escalated in June, more than 6,100 people have been arrested for a range of offenses -- including taking part in unlawful assemblies like the one Ivan attended. Almost a thousand people have been formally charged so far, but the number is expected to rise, as are arrests, as police pour over the reams of evidence amassed throughout the past six months. The unrest began with largely peaceful mass marches against a proposed extradition bill with China. Though the bill has since been withdrawn, the initial protests unleashed a torrent of anger and frustration with Hong Kong’s political system. Since June, protesters have demanded an investigation into allegations of police brutality and called for greater democracy. While the early demonstrations were legally-approved marches, almost everyone who has attended protests in recent months has been at an event deemed unlawful. Many may be guilty of rioting, due to the offense’s broad legal definition, or of violating a ban on facial coverings at public assemblies, which city leaders introduced by invoking rarely-used emergency powers. The number of people potentially eligible for arrest could number in the hundreds of thousands. Many of those already arrested, like Ivan, are in their twenties, or even younger. They have been the drivers of the protest movement but have also borne the brunt of the reaction and could be the ones ultimately paying the cost -- an entire generation criminalized, in a fight for their future which could end up costing them just that. SIX MONTHS THAT CHANGED HONG KONG While Hong Kong is part of China, it also maintains a degree of autonomy. As a former British colony, it enjoys its own legal and political systems, and protected freedoms of press, speech, and assembly. When protesters marched in June, it was with one objective -- to demand the withdrawal of a bill they thought threatened those freedoms. Championed by the city’s top leader, Chief Executive Carrie Lam, the bill would have allowed extradition of fugitives to mainland China. Hong Kong’s freedoms stand in stark contrast to the mainland, where President Xi Jinping maintains a tight grip on power. China’s legal system is beholden to the ruling Communist Party -- it has a notoriously high conviction rate and a history of political prosecutions. It's one of the main reasons why Hong Kong protesters were so fiercely opposed to the extradition bill; they feared Beijing could use the bill to target political dissidents and erode Hong Kong’s autonomy. In June, after protest organizers estimated 2 million people took to the streets, Lam said she wanted to offer the city her "most sincere apology." "I have heard you loud and clear and have reflected deeply on all that has transpired," she said. "The concerns over the past few months have been caused by the deficiencies of the (Hong Kong) government." But the standoff continued. As protests stretched on through the summer, peaceful mass marches were largely replaced by violent clashes with police. Police fired tear gas once, then twice, then every week, while protesters built flaming barricades and threw petrol bombs and bricks. Chinese state media criticized the protests, with China Daily saying Hong Kong had been plagued by "unwarranted political wrangling and violent radicalism.” Over several months of street battles, the protest movement coalesced around the slogan “Five demands, not one less.” The first was the withdrawal of the extradition bill, which Lam’s government officially did in September. Remaining demands include: launch an independent inquiry into alleged police brutality; retract the categorization of previous protests as "riots"; provide amnesty for arrested protesters; and introduce full universal suffrage. | |
| Posted by:Bangkok Billy |
| #2 Having lived through this, I give CNN credit for calling balls and strikes on this one. Accurate objective reporting IMHO. |
| Posted by: Bangkok Billy 2019-12-21 08:14 |
| #1 Should have been six, or a second - A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2019-12-21 07:35 |