Rubber bullets fly at Hong Kong protests
VIOLENT clashes erupted in Hong Kong yesterday as police fired rubber bullets to stop protesters storming the city’s parliament and tens of thousands blocked traffic to demand leaders scrap a plan to allow extraditions to China.
Riot police also used tear gas, pepper spray and batons to disperse demonstrators soon after 3pm, the deadline the crowd had given the government to abandon the extradition bill.
In the first official reaction to the protests, Matthew Cheung, the city’s chief secretary, told the demonstrators to retreat.
But many stood their ground, shielding themselves with face masks, helmets, goggles and umbrellas.
“Giving in to China with this bill will open all sorts of meddling from Beijing,” said Frank Ng, 34, a clerk who was protesting with his parents, both in their sixties. “It’ll just get more oppressive. We need to defend our right to legislate ourselves independently.”
Opponents say the extradition bill would allow virtually anyone – including foreigners – to be sent to mainland China, where the Communist Party exerts great influence over the courts and human rights experts say forced confessions and torture are commonplace.
Protesters camped out overnight in groups on Tuesday, and crowds swelled early yesterday and spilt into main streets. The scenes echoed the Umbrella pro-democracy protests that shut the city down for 79 days in 2014.
Organisers of a protest march on Sunday said it was attended by more than a million people – nearly 15 per cent of the city’s population.
But Carrie Lam, Hong Kong’s chief executive, said on Monday that she would press forward with the bill. Ms Lam, who would have the final say over extraditions, says the legislation will close a legal loophole and stop the city becoming a haven for fugitives.
Second and third rounds of debate on the measure, due to take place yesterday, were scrapped as the protests continued. But the bill could go to a vote next Thursday and is expected to pass, with pro-beijing lawmakers holding 43 of the 70 seats in the legislature.
Foreign lawyers, judges, human rights activists, business groups and governments fear the bill would ruin Hong Kong’s rule of law and status as a global financial hub, and undermine the freedoms the territory has enjoyed under the 50-year agreement signed before Britain handed it back to China in 1997.
Since 2017, Beijing has pressured city authorities to quash dissent by expelling elected officials, jailing activists and outlawing political parties.
“This is our last chance to make our voice heard,” a university student who asked to remain anonymous told The Daily Telegraph. “If the bill passes, Hong Kong’s freedom is going to be tarnished forever. China already has a foot through the back door. It’s a painful thing to witness in my lifetime.”
Man-kei Tam, director of Amnesty International Hong Kong, said the police had violated international law by tear-gassing peaceful protesters.
‘If the bill passes, Hong Kong’s freedom is going to be tarnished forever’