Hong Kong Protesters Swarm Police Building as Crisis Drags On
“Police violence is the most important reason to protest,” said Susanne Yeung, a protester.
(Bloomberg) -- Emboldened protesters turned their focus on the Hong Kong Police Force in a new round of rallies, surrounding the agency’s headquarters and demanding authorities to drop charges against demonstrators over clashes with law enforcement last week.
Hundreds of protesters -- many clad in black T-shirts and wearing surgical masks to conceal their identities -- converged on the police complex in the Wan Chai district Friday in the latest demonstration to disrupt services in the Asian financial hub. The group had walked over from the nearby central government complex, which Chief Executive Carrie Lam preemptively shut amid protest threats, and also occupied the city’s immigration building.
As of 7 p.m., hundreds remained gathered on the streets outside the government headquarters. Some threw eggs at the building.
The rallies showed the Beijing-backed government was still struggling to quiet unrest almost a week after Lam decided to suspend controversial legislation that would’ve allowed extraditions to China. Opponents have called for the bill’s complete withdrawal, Lam’s resignation and for the government to rescind its description of a rowdy June 12 protest outside the Legislative Council chamber as a “riot situation.”
“This stalemate might go on,” said opposition lawmaker Claudia Mo, adding that “this mess” was created entirely by the chief executive. “We are urging Carrie Lam to just come out and speak to the representatives of students.”
The Hong Kong protests have turned out hundreds of thousands of people and drawn global attention to growing anxiety over China’s commitment to the former British colony’s autonomy. The disruptions come at an awkward time for the government, with Chinese President Xi Jinping due to meet Donald Trump next week on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in Japan.
Police charged 15 demonstrators -- including five with rioting offenses -- after the June 12 clashes, which authorities blamed for forcing them to unleash pepper spray, tear gas and rubber bullets on the crowds. Eighty-one people were injured. Opposition lawmakers grilled the city’s security chief Wednesday on the use of force.
Rallies outside the police headquarters Friday were led by former student leader Joshua Wong, himself released only Monday after serving one month in jail for his role in organizing the 2014 Occupy Central protests. Wong, 22, refused to speak with lower-ranked police negotiators and demanded a meeting with Police Commissioner Stephen Lo, who made the “riot” remark that angered demonstrators.
While tensions occasionally rose as police attempted to gain access to their building, the protests remained peaceful throughout the day Friday as the number of demonstrators ebbed and flowed. Police officers standing sentry outside put up a sign warning against crossing their cordon, but avoided confrontations and didn’t don riot gear.
The protesters later moved to the neighboring Immigration Tower, another government building, prompting other nearby offices and shops to close. “We want the government to stop working” until protester demands are met, said Edwin Chan, 27, a graphic designer, who wore a black mask as he stood in a crowd of protesters.
Meanwhile, opponents of the extradition bill looked to capitalize on the global attention, planning a “G-20 Free Hong Kong Assembly” on Wednesday ahead of the meeting of leaders of the world’s largest economies.
A major demand of the Civil Human Rights Front -- which helped organize some recent demonstrations -- is an investigation into what it calls excessive violence and abuse of power. Amnesty International said Friday it had examined “incidents of unnecessary and excessive use of force” against protesters last Wednesday, including the beating of peaceful demonstrators. It urged restraint in the policing of gatherings.
Lam has stood by Lo and defended his tactics as necessary to prevent protester attacks on the police.
“Police violence is the most important reason to protest,” said Susanne Yeung, who’s in her 20s. Yeung took a lunch break from her finance job and slipped a mask on to join in the protest. “How long this lasts depends on government reaction. They need to apologize for the police violence.”
--With assistance from Justin Chin, Fion Li, Yvonne Man, Sebastian Chau, Josie Wong, Shawna Kwan and Kari Soo Lindberg.
To contact the reporters on this story: Blake Schmidt in Hong Kong at bschmidt16@bloomberg.net;Karen Leigh in Hong Kong at kleigh4@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Brendan Scott at bscott66@bloomberg.net, Will Davies
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