Senior citizens march in Hong Kong
Actress says younger protesters ‘mistreated’
HONG KONG — Thousands of Hong Kong senior citizens, including a popular actress, marched Wednesday in a show of support for youths at the forefront of monthlong protests against a contentious extradition bill in the semi-autonomous Chinese territory.
The seniors also slammed the police for their handling of a protest Sunday in Hong Kong’s Sha Tin district. That protest was mostly peaceful but ended in mayhem when violent scuffles in a shopping mall left dozens injured, including a policeman who had a finger bitten off, and over 40 people detained.
Veteran actress and singer Deanie Ip, who joined Wednesday’s demonstration, said police shouldn’t use heavy-handed tactics against protesters who “have no guns” and were peacefully expressing their frustrations.
“They are young people, and they are doing the right thing. Why are they being mistreated?” she said.
Ip and several others held a banner reading “Support youth to protect Hong Kong” as they marched through a financial district.
Dozens of seniors carried a 20-foot-long black banner that read “Reject tyrannical rule.”
Some elders in wheelchairs joined the march. Organizers said about 8,000 people participated in the demonstration.
Hong Kong has been jolted for over a month by large-scale and occasional violent protests amid widespread anger over a proposed extradition law that would send suspects to mainland China to face trials. The bill is seen as a threat to Hong Kong’s freedoms that were guaranteed for 50 years when China took back control of the former British colony in 1997.
Even though Hong Kong’s embattled leader, Carrie Lam, suspended the bill and declared the legislation “dead,” her moves failed to placate the protesters, who have demanded her resignation. Tens of thousands have continued to take to the streets, with the protests expanding into a bigger movement against China’s growing intrusion into the territory.
The senior citizens Wednesday repeated demands for the legislation to be formally withdrawn, for the release of dozens of people detained and for an independent inquiry into alleged police brutality against protesters.