Elders march in support of young demonstrators
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 semiautonomous 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 saw dozens injured, including a policeman who had a finger bitten off, and more than 40 people detained.
Veteran actress and singer Deanie Ip, who joined Wednesday’s demonstration, said police shouldn’t use heavyhanded tactics against young 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.
Some elders in wheelchairs also joined the march. Organizers said about 8,000 people participated in the demonstration.
Hong Kong has been jolted for over a month by a series of largescale and occasionally 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.