HONG KONG BANKS PLACE LAW AND ORDER ADVERTS

HONG Kong banks published full-page newspaper adverts calling for law and order in the Chinese-ruled city, and international jewellers sought the rescheduling of a huge trade fair as weeks of pro-democracy protests showed no sign of let-up yesterday. Thousands held a scrappy anti-government protest on Wednesday at a suburban subway station where demonstrators were attacked by a mob of white-shirted men last month. Police said that they charged two men with rioting in connection with the July attack, who are to appear in court today. Wednesday’s standoff stopped short of recent intense clashes, including the storming of the legislature and occupation of the airport, with police refraining from using tear gas or attempting to storm protesters’ lines. HSBC, Standard Chartered and Bank of East Asia all urged the restoration of order in the former British colony, which returned to Chinese rule in 1997. “Oppose violence, restore social order, safeguard Hong Kong’s status as an international financial centre,” Standard Chartered said in its advertisement. Trade representatives of the world’s largest diamond trading centres, from Antwerp, Mumbai and Ramat Gan, asked the organiser of the high-profile Hong Kong Jewellery and Gem Fair to postpone the event, which typically draws more than 54 000 visitors. US President Donald Trump over the weekend warned against a crackdown in Hong Kong like Beijing’s suppression of pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square in 1989, which would make reaching a deal he has been seeking to end a trade war with China “very hard”. | Reuters