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Hong Kong protesters scuffle with opponents of pro-democracy campaign Hong Kong protesters scuffle with opponents of pro-democracy campaign
(about 1 hour later)
HONG KONG —Opponents of pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong opened their own counteroffensive Friday, pulling down barricades, scuffling with demonstrators and possibly unraveling government attempts to open talks aimed at easing the standoff. HONG KONG — Opponents of a week-long protest in Hong Kong stormed into demonstrators’ midst Friday, attacking them and pulling down their tents and barricades.
One of the main protest factions announced it would reject a proposal for dialogue on potential political reforms, suggesting the tensions in the former British colony could be moving into a new and more volatile stage. The violence injected fresh fear among student protesters as well as anger and suspicion at authorities’ delayed and tepid response and their seeming reluctance to arrest anti-protest attackers.
The mob-style backlash — whether sanctioned by pro-Beijing officials or a spontaneous groundswell — came as protesters struggled to keep alive their street occupations calling for a greater voice in Hong Hong’s political affairs and future. The rapidly deepening mistrust could make confrontation between authorities and protesters more likely. And the clash reflects growing polarization throughout Hong Kong over the protesters’ occupation downtown, which has paralyzed major sections of the city.
The attacks could set the stage for wider crackdowns by officials, who have warned they would not tolerate open-ended demonstrations that have paralyzed parts of the city. Protesters and activists also complained that police often failed to intervene to stop the assaults. Some protesters openly accused police of colluding with the attackers Friday, and organizers threatened to call off planned talks with the government.
The Hong Kong Federation of Students, one of the main protest blocs, said it was pulling out of possible talks with government officials and accused authorities of allowing self-styled vigilantes to “violently attack peaceful occupiers.” It was unclear whether the simultaneous attacks at two separate camps Friday were a spontaneous expression of residents’ frustration with how the protest has paralyzed large swaths of the city, or whether they were sanctioned by pro-Beijing factions.
It was unclear whether the snub, posted on the group’s Facebook page, would fully derail attempts to negotiate and end to more than a week of protests and unrest. The student federation, however, carries considerable influence among the demonstrators. But fueling protesters’ suspicions, some attackers were heard speaking with mainland accents, and according to witnesses, at least one was carrying a sign written in simplified characters used on the mainland but not in Hong Kong.
Protesters accused the counter-demonstrators of being thugs sent by Hong Kong’s triads and mainland Chinese authorities, who have opposed the protests and warned that their continuation would send Hong Kong into “chaos.”
“First they told us there would be chaos, and now they have made it happen,” said one demonstrator at one of the attacked sites, who was only willing to give his last name, Fai, for fear of inviting attacks against him.
“The failure of police to stop or punish the violence is certainly feeding into perceptions that what happened is some sort of collusion,” said Maya Wang of the Human Rights Watch. The suspicions further undermined an already fragile situation.
In the working-class neighborhood Mong Kok, which has long been associated with triad gangs, student protesters were hemmed in on all sides by counter-protesters, who were kept back only by a thin cordon of wildly outnumbered police, who tried to separate the protesters from their opponents by holding hands and forming a human chain.
There were reports of female protesters groped by attackers. The Hong Kong Federation of Students, one of the main organizations behind the protests, said the “government and police have allowed triad members to violently attack peaceful occupiers,” and pulled out of talks with Hong Kong’s government aimed at resolving the students’ demands.
In a statement, the government urged protesters to leave the area as soon as possible and suggested that the entire protest movement end its occupation. Of those who attacked protesters, however, it only said they should “cooperate” with authorities.
While the number of protesters has noticeably diminished in recent days, video of the violence in Mong Kok sent droves of protest supporters who were just getting off work into the neighborhood. Hundreds crowded around the last standing protest tent to protect the remaining demonstrators and rebuff the counter-protesters.
“Go back to the mainland,” some shouted at the anti-protest crowd. “How much did they pay you to come out here?” “Protect the students!”
The sudden violence was in sharp contrast to several days of peaceful and at times curiously polite protest by students, some of whom appeared shaken by the experience.
Protests flared late last week in opposition to plans for Chinese officials to vet candidates for elections in Hong Kong, which was handed over to Beijing in 1997. The showdowns soon evolved into a ideological confrontation over whether Western-looking Hong Kong should retain some degree of autonomy from the central government — a concession Beijing appears unwilling to make.Protests flared late last week in opposition to plans for Chinese officials to vet candidates for elections in Hong Kong, which was handed over to Beijing in 1997. The showdowns soon evolved into a ideological confrontation over whether Western-looking Hong Kong should retain some degree of autonomy from the central government — a concession Beijing appears unwilling to make.
Friday was the first day many Hong Kong residents returned to work after a two-day holiday although the central government closed its offices, telling workers to work from home. Friday was the first day many Hong Kong residents returned to work after a two-day holiday, although the central government closed its offices, telling workers to work from home.
Opponents of the protesters struck back in several areas. The most dramatic incidents took place in Mong Kok, on the other side of the harbor from the central business district. Groups converged on the protest site and started taking down tents and removing barricades. In several places, roaming mobs scuffled with demonstrators. Police spokesman Kong Man-keung said police had been asking the crowd to leave over the past few days, but to no avail, according to the South China Morning Post. He said that suggestions that “police [are] letting criminals off the hook” were groundless.
By late afternoon — during torrential downpours — the student demonstrators were hemmed in on all sides by counter-protesters, who were kept back only by a thin cordon of police, who attempted to separate the protesters from their opponents by holding hands and forming a human chain. Two buses which had been parked by the protest site since the occupation began earlier in the week, adorned with pro-democracy banners, were driven away to the applause of the anti-occupy crowds. Student demonstrators were in the midst of negotiating when and where to meet with the government’s envoy. Leung had told a late-night news conference Thursday that his government was willing to talk with the protesters but that he would not be resigning his post, a key demand of demonstrators.
Questions abound over the nature of the counter-protests, which pro-democracy activists claim are rent-a-mobs mobilized by pro-Beijing factions in the city, according to local media. Daniela Deane in Rome, Brian Murphy in Washington and Xu Jing in Beijing contributed to this report.
Earlier in the day, a handful of residents in the popular shopping district of Causeway Bay turned on the student occupation there, shouting at the protesters that they were impeding the daily lives of locals.
“The government carries some responsibility for the violence because of their clear failure to stop it’’ amid an “already fragile situation,” said Maya Wang, a researcher for Human Rights Watch
“It’s unclear where this is all headed if the two sides can’t even sit together to talk,” she added.
China said Friday in a front-page editorial in the People’s Daily, the mouthpiece of the Communist Party, that it fully trusted Hong Kong chief executive Leung Chun-ying and that the protests were “doomed to failure."
Student demonstrators were negotiating when and where to meet with the government’s envoy. Also under negotiation is whether the meeting will be public, as the students are demanding, or closed.
Leung told a late-night news conference Thursday that his government was willing to talk with the protesters but that he would not be resigning his post, a key demand of the so-called “umbrella revolution” — taken from the use of umbrella to shield against the sun and rain, as well as tear gas during clashes with police on Sunday.
It was a tough signal, reflecting Beijing’s unyielding stance. The promise to hold talks, however limited they may be in scope, appeared to be enough to blunt the protest leaders’ determination to act.
Emily Lau, a pro-democracy legislator, said that the protesters were disappointed Leung would not be resigning.
But “it is okay for the time being to see the administration agreeing to have talks with the students,” she told the British Broadcasting Corp.
The protesters had threatened to occupy government buildings if Leung refused to step down by midnight Thursday.
But disagreement among themselves about what to do next and a show of force by police refrained them from escalating the conflict. Scuffles erupted between protesters early Friday on how to proceed and whether to occupy another road nearby.
Hong Kong shares sank to a four-and-a-half month low on Friday, the Hang Seng index its lowest since May 21, with investors unloading stock amid the continued civil unrest in the city.
Beijing’s uncompromising stance is driven in part by fears that successful protests in Hong Kong could inspire dissent to bubble up elsewhere in China.
“Beijing is not going to lose,” Jeff Bader, the former top White House official for East Asia, said in an interview. “They’re just not willing to, and they have the power to make that stick.”
Daniela Deane reported from Rome. Xu Jing in Beijing contributed to this report.