Stevens praised as ‘brilliant man’ at Supreme Court

critical condition, the Hospital Authority said.

Subway passengers filmed by Stand News and iCABLE angrily accused police offi- cers of not intervening to protect the demonstrators, who have been critical of the police use of force in recent weeks.

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam said Monday that allegations that police had colluded with the assailants were “unfounded.”

The Sunday night assault on Beijing’s Hong Kong Liaison Office touched a raw nerve in Chi n a. C hina’s national emblem, which hangs on the front of the building, was splattered with black ink. It was replaced by a new one within hours.

The official People’s Daily newspaper, in a front-page commentary on Monday headlined “Central Author- ity Cannot Be Challenged,” called the protesters’ actions “intolerable.”

“These acts openly chal- lenged the authority of the central government and touched the bottom line of the ‘one country, two systems’ principle,” the government’s Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office said in a statement Sunday.

Lam repeated the same statement to reporters Monday, adding that the vandalism “hurt the nation’s feelings.”

The “one country, two systems” framework, under which the former British colony was returned to China in 1997, allows Hong Kong to maintain a fair degree of autonomy in local affairs. Demonstrators fear the pro-Beijing government in Hong Kong is chipping away at their rights and freedoms, and the weekslong tumult has fueled fears of a more aggressive Chinese response.

In Washington, President Donald Trump said he believes Chinese leader Xi Jinping has acted “very responsibly” in allowing the extended protests to play out in Hong Kong. Asked about China’s handling of the protests, he said that “China could stop them if they wanted.”

“I hope that President Xi will do the right thing. But it has been going on a long time,” Trump added, without elaborating.

Meanwhile, a group of proChina lawmakers held a news conference appealing for a halt to the violence, saying it was a blow to Hong Kong’s reputation and was scaring away tourists and investors.

They also urged police to tighten enforcement against the protesters, whom Regina Ip, a former security secretary, called “rebels.”

— Re t ired WASHINGTON

Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens was remem- bered as a “brilliant man” with a “deep devotion to the rule of law” during a cere- mony Monday at the court where he served for nearly 35 years.

The 99-year-old Stevens died last week after suffer- ing a stroke. Justice Elena Kagan, who replaced Stevens on the court after he retired in 2010, spoke during a brief ceremony, calling Stevens modest and humble.

“He was a brilliant man with extraordinary legal gifts and talents which he com- bined with a deep devotion to the rule of law and a deep commitment to equal jus- tice,” Kagan said.

In addition to Kagan, five of Stevens’ former col- leagues were at the court to pay their respects. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Samuel Alito and Sonia Sotomayor attended the ceremony along with retired Justice Anthony Kennedy. Other justices were unable to attend because of prior commitments, court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg said.

President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump visited the court later in the morning. The two were greeted by Roberts and stood briefly before Stevens’ flagdraped casket as well as a portrait of Stevens.

Stevens will be buried Tuesday in a private ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, just over the Potomac River from Washington. Stevens, who served in World War II before going to law school at Northwestern University, will be laid to rest in a section of the cemetery where several justices are also buried.

Stevens was nominated to the court by President Gerald Ford in 1975. At first considered a centrist, Stevens came to be seen as a lion of liberalism. But Stevens himself rejected that characterization, describing himself as “pretty darn conservative.” Stevens’ view was that the court had shifted steadily to the right over the decades he was there, creating the illusion that he was moving leftward.

Stev e ns’ casket was brought to the court Monday morning and placed in the court’s Great Hall.