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Protesters in Hong Kong Block Road and Surround Police Headquarters Hong Kong Protests Resume as Police Headquarters Is Surrounded
(about 5 hours later)
HONG KONG — Thousands of protesters blocked a thoroughfare outside Hong Kong’s government offices and surrounded the police headquarters on Friday, adding new pressure on the city’s leader to withdraw an unpopular bill that has thrown the territory into a political crisis. HONG KONG — Thousands of protesters blocked a major thoroughfare and surrounded the headquarters of Hong Kong’s police force on Friday, putting new pressure on the city’s leadership over an unpopular bill that has thrown the territory into a political crisis.
The demonstrators, mostly teenagers and people in their 20s and dressed in black, first held a sit-in at a concourse in front of the legislative chambers. Many of them then poured onto a main road by the complex, blocking traffic while chanting calls for the government to withdraw the legislation that would allow extraditions to mainland China. The demonstrators, mostly teenagers and people in their 20s, dressed in black, filled the main roads around the police complex in stifling 90-degree weather, chanting calls for the authorities to release protesters who were arrested last week. The government shut down its headquarters for the day, citing security concerns, and the legislature canceled all meetings.
Demonstrators strung up a large, white banner declaring “This is Hong Kong, not China” along the side of a pedestrian bridge. It was the latest of several mass demonstrations in the span of two weeks that have paralyzed parts of downtown Hong Kong, in scenes reminiscent of the 2014 pro-democracy Umbrella Movement protests, which saw major districts occupied for more than two months.
Kenneth Kwan, a 19-year-old student, said he agreed with the protesters’ decision to abandon a sedate sit-in and instead shut down a major road, because he thought it would make a larger statement. The protesters have felt emboldened since Carrie Lam, the city’s chief executive, indefinitely suspended the contentious extradition bill last Saturday. As many as two million protesters poured into the streets the next day, organizers contend.
“It’s a helpless feeling, and we don’t know how to make our government respond to our needs,” he said through a face mask while standing in an eastbound lane of Harcourt Road. Protesters, he said, needed to keep pressure on the government until their demands were met.
The protesters have vowed to continue demonstrations after a set of demands, chief among them the full withdrawal of contentious legislation that would allow extraditions to mainland China, went unmet by Thursday. They also called for the resignation of Carrie Lam, the city’s chief executive, the release of people arrested during clashes with police last week and an investigation into the police’s use of force against protesters.
Other protesters descended on the headquarters of the city’s police force, not far from the legislative chambers, where they set up steel barricades blocking the entrance and demanded a meeting with the police chief. “Shame on dirty cops,” they chanted.
Eddie Chu, a pro-democracy lawmaker, led chants urging Stephen Lo, the police chief, and John Lee, the secretary for security, to resign.
The police urged the protesters to disperse, saying they were obstructing officers’ ability to respond to emergencies. The police would send a team of negotiators to persuade the protesters to leave, Yolanda Yu, a police spokeswoman said at a news conference steps from where the protesters had gathered.
“The police is not clearing the grounds,” Ms. Yu said. “We respect the people to express their views in a peaceful manner.”
The protesters have felt emboldened since Mrs. Lam indefinitely suspended the extradition bill last week and organizers contend that as many as two million protesters poured onto the streets of downtown Hong Kong on Sunday.
[These aerial images show you the scale of last Sunday’s protest.][These aerial images show you the scale of last Sunday’s protest.]
Those protests prompted Mrs. Lam to deliver a personal, televised public apology for having proposed the bill in the first place. The protesters are not satisfied with Mrs. Lam’s suspension of the bill, which would allow extraditions to mainland China — a move that they believe would put residents and visitors at risk of being subjected to the mainland’s Communist Party-controlled judicial system. Instead, the protesters want Mrs. Lam to withdraw the law fully.
But she did not agree to resign or withdraw the bill entirely, as many protesters have demanded. Instead, she said that so long as there was a public dispute over the bill’s content, work on it would not resume in Hong Kong’s legislature. The alarm over the bill underscores many Hong Kong residents’ rising anxiety and frustration over the erosion of civil liberties that have set the city apart from the rest of China.
As calls for protesters to gather on Friday around the Legislative Council circulated on social media and in messaging groups, the government shut down its headquarters for the day, citing security concerns. It was not immediately clear if the sit-in would disrupt scheduled meetings of the legislature on Friday. “This is Hong Kong, not China,” declared a large, white banner displayed along the side of a pedestrian bridge on Friday.
The extradition bill would allow the authorities in Hong Kong, a semiautonomous territory, to send people suspected of crimes to jurisdictions such as mainland China, with which it does not have an extradition agreement. Opponents of the bill fear that, if it becomes law, it would open a door for Beijing to take anyone from Hong Kong — including dissidents — into the mainland’s opaque judicial system, which is controlled by the Communist Party. Kenneth Kwan, a 19-year-old student, said he had joined the protesters in shutting down a major road because he thought it would make a stronger statement than a mere sit-in would.
“It’s a helpless feeling, and we don’t know how to make our government respond to our needs,” he said through a face mask, standing in an eastbound lane of Harcourt Road. The protesters, he said, needed to keep pressure on the government until their demands were met.
As of late afternoon, the police were maintaining a low-level presence at the protest sites, apparently trying to avoid escalating tensions.
The protesters had vowed to resume street demonstrations after a set of demands went unmet by a Thursday deadline. Aside from the scrapping of the bill, the protesters also called for Mrs. Lam’s resignation, the release of people arrested during clashes with police last week and an investigation into the police’s use of batons, tear gas and rubber bullets against protesters in clashes on June 12.
The demonstrations on Friday signaled that the fight was not over for Mrs. Lam, the embattled leader, and foreshadowed more upheaval in the city.
The protesters began the day with a sit-in on the grounds outside the legislative chambers. By midmorning, they had descended on the headquarters of the city’s police force, where they set up barricades blocking the entrance and demanded a meeting with the police chief.
“Shame on dirty cops,” they chanted.
Eddie Chu, a pro-democracy lawmaker, led the crowd in urging Stephen Lo, the police chief, and John Lee, the secretary for security, to resign. Joshua Wong, a key leader of the 2014 pro-democracy protests, who was released from prison on Monday, shouted slogans decrying the authorities for having previously labeled the June 12 demonstration a riot, which suggested serious potential legal ramifications for people who participated in it.
“No riots, only tyranny,” he chanted, as others followed.
The police urged the demonstrators to disperse, saying they were obstructing officers’ ability to respond to emergencies. Yolanda Yu, a police spokeswoman, said at a news conference steps from the protesters that a team of negotiators would be sent to persuade them to leave. The crowd shouted over her.
“The police is not clearing the grounds,” Ms. Yu said. “We respect the people to express their views in a peaceful manner.”
The massive outcry over the past two weeks prompted Mrs. Lam to deliver a personal, televised public apology on Tuesday for having proposed the bill in the first place.
But she did not agree to resign or withdraw the bill entirely, as many protesters have demanded. Instead, she said work on it would not resume in Hong Kong’s legislature as long as there was a public dispute over the bill’s content.
The extradition bill would allow the authorities in Hong Kong, a semiautonomous territory, to send people suspected of crimes to jurisdictions with which it does not have an extradition agreement, including mainland China. Opponents of the bill fear that if it becomes law, it would open a door for Beijing to take anyone from Hong Kong — including dissidents — into the mainland’s opaque, politicized judicial system.
[As the fight over Hong Kong’s future raged, the city’s tycoons waited and worried.][As the fight over Hong Kong’s future raged, the city’s tycoons waited and worried.]
China’s Communist Party under President Xi Jinping has increasingly tried to exert control over Hong Kong, which has its own laws, independent courts and news outlets, and a vocal community of pro-democracy activists and lawmakers. Beijing has steadily eroded those liberties over the last several years, including by trying to silence critics and stacking Hong Kong’s leadership with its supporters. Under China’s president, Xi Jinping, the ruling Communist Party has increasingly tried to exert control over Hong Kong, which has its own laws, independent courts and news outlets, as well as a vocal community of pro-democracy activists and lawmakers. Beijing has steadily eroded the city’s liberties over the last several years, including by trying to silence critics and stacking Hong Kong’s leadership with its supporters.
Many protesters have expressed seething anger at Beijing’s encroachment on their rights, most strikingly when hundreds of thousands of people, or as many as one million, descended on central Hong Kong on June 9 in the first of three major demonstrations over the past two weeks. The protests have largely remained peaceful although the police fired tear gas and rubber bullets during skirmishes on June 12 with a large group of protesters, some of whom had thrown bricks and bottles at riot police.
Perhaps wary about provoking a greater backlash, Mr. Xi’s government has so far been muted in its response to the protests. Its Foreign Ministry has said it still supports the bill, and criticized “foreign forces that interfere” in Hong Kong’s affairs.