Defiant protesters bring Hong Kong to a standstill

China stares at one of its biggest challenge since 1989 as the unrest goes from bad to worse

HONG KONG: Hong Kong democracy protesters defied volleys of tear gas and police baton charges to stand firm in the centre of the global financial hub on Monday, one of the biggest political challenges for China since the Tiananmen Square crackdown 25 years ago.

The Communist government in Beijing made clear it would not tolerate dissent, and warned against any foreign interference as thousands of protesters massed for a fourth night in the free-wheeling, capitalist city of more than 7 million people.

“Hong Kong is China’s Hong Kong,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying defiantly told a news briefing in Beijing.

The unrest, the worst in Hong Kong since China resumed its rule over the former British colony in 1997, sent white clouds of gas wafting among some of the world’s most valuable office towers and shopping malls before riot police suddenly withdrew around lunchtime on Monday.

Tens of thousands of mostly student protesters are demanding full democracy and have called on the city’s leader Leung Chun-ying to step down.

China rules Hong Kong under a “one country, two systems” for- mula that accords the territory only a degree of democracy.

As riot police withdrew on Monday, weary protesters slept beside roads or sheltered from the sun beneath umbrellas. In addition to protection from the elements, umbrellas have been used as flimsy shields against pepper spray. Organisers have said that as many as 80,000 people have thronged the streets after the protests flared on Friday night. No independent estimate of numbers was available. The protests, with no single identifiable leader, bring together a mass movement of mostly tech-savvy students who have grown up with freedoms not enjoyed in mainland China.