Hong Kong
Act Daily News
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Wearing numbered lanyards, a small group of 80 demonstrators took half in Hong Kong’s first approved protest in three years on Sunday – a rigorously choreographed occasion that campaigners say provides a chilling perception into the way forward for protest within the metropolis.
Numbers have been capped at 100, and through the hour-long occasion, organizers repeatedly advised journalists to steer clear of them following police warnings that the presence of the press might end result within the march being canceled.
The protest was a far cry from mass demonstrations of only a few years in the past when tons of of 1000’s of Hong Kongers took half in typically violent clashes with police over proposed safety regulation they noticed as giving Beijing tighter management of town.
Sunday’s protesters weren’t calling for democracy however the scrapping of an area reclamation challenge in Tseung Kwan O they are saying will enhance air pollution of their middle-class neighborhood – but strict situations have been utilized.
Cyrus Chan, one of many organizers from Concern Group For Tseung Kwan O People’s Livelihood, mentioned police had screened the protest’s publicity materials, and advised organizers to advise individuals in opposition to dressing in yellow and black – colours related to town’s pro-democracy motion and mass protests in 2019.
“There cannot be any messages deemed politically sensitive, seditious and sensitive colors,” Chan recalled being advised.
A Hong Kong Police spokesman mentioned the preparations have been made based mostly on their danger assessments of the organizers’ “aim, nature, number of participants, past experience and latest circumstances.”
Figo Chan, former convenor of the now-disbanded Civil Human Rights Front group, which as soon as introduced big crowds of democracy supporters onto Hong Kong’s streets, says Sunday’s occasion exhibits how troublesome it might be for activists to make their views identified within the metropolis.
“This is the new era with Hong Kong characteristics,” Chan described, borrowing using the time period by the Chinese Communist Party to first describe its socialist-capitalist philosophy that has since been expanded to its “democracy with Chinese characteristics.”
“I believe it’d be very hard to hold a protest in the future,” mentioned Chan.
“I want fresh air. No reclamation work,” the gang shouted as they marched a brief distance from a prepare station to Tseung Kwan O Waterfront Park, close to the positioning of the proposed challenge that features the development of a concrete plant and waste station.
Around 40 police – about half the variety of protesters – have been deployed to the occasion make certain the foundations have been adopted.
Winnie Chiu, who held the quantity tag 10, steered clear from politics through the protest. “This is not a political demand. This is about basic daily life and our health,” mentioned the trainer in her 50s.
It was a small occasion however extremely important for campaigners in a metropolis the place protests have largely fallen silent.
The final time Hong Kongers got here onto the streets in huge numbers was in 2019 and 2020, when protests in opposition to an extradition regulation spiraled into broader requires democracy.
For many, the extradition regulation represented a tightening of China’s management over the semi-autonomous metropolis, whose governance below a coverage of “one country, two systems” had been agreed for 50 years after the 1997 handover from British to Chinese rule.
As the variety of protests grew, the federal government’s place hardened and police responded with tear fuel and rubber bullets.
The protests stopped after limits have been imposed on gatherings as a result of Covid, and the introduction of the nationwide safety regulation by Beijing in June 2020, which threatened arrest for anybody suspected of “treason, secession, sedition (and) subversion.”
The Hong Kong police have additionally cited the pandemic as a cause over the previous three years to reject protest functions.
Earlier this month, the Hong Kong Women Workers’ Association deliberate an indication in assist of International Women’s Day, however canceled it regardless of receiving police approval, giving no additional feedback.
After the nationwide safety regulation was imposed, many opposition figures liable for organizing the protests have been arrested with out bail, and lots of civil our bodies have been pressured to close down, together with Figo Chan’s Civil Human Rights Front.
The native activist mentioned he doesn’t regard Sunday’s Tseung Kwan O protest as a correct public meeting, assured below town’s mini-constitution referred to as the Basic Law.
“There is an imposed quota of 100, so it’s only a protest by a small group, not the public,” he mentioned.
Chan mentioned prior to now police would ask his group for estimated numbers, however by imposing a quota, it defeated the aim of a protest, which ought to be open to everybody.
Another activist Raphael Wong, from League of Social Democrats, mentioned he believed the tight controls mirror the anxiousness of the authorities.
“There will not be any loosening up until the Hong Kong and Chinese officials are feeling less tense about the situation,” he mentioned.
Legal scholar Michael Davis, who used to show human rights legal guidelines on the University of Hong Kong, referred to as the association “an embarrassment,” stressing that the protesters on Sunday have been by no means constituting a menace to the federal government.
The world fellow from the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, a suppose tank in Washington DC, likened the scenario to that of Singapore the place protesters can solely tackle crowds and not using a allow at “Speaker’s Corner,” making demonstrations very uncommon.
“These restrictions leave little or no room for a civil rights movement,” he mentioned.
However, pro-Beijing lawmaker Regina Ip, who was the safety minister of town between between 1998 and 2003, defended the police, saying the rights to protest will not be absolute. She cited the clashes in 2019 as a justification for stricter measures.
Asked if there’s room for the police to cut back their measures sooner or later, Ip mentioned they need to “assess the situation depending on the circumstance at the time.”
Cyrus Chan, who organized Sunday’s march, mentioned he hoped the orderly show opened the door for different protests.
“I hope we have demonstrated to the Hong Kong and Chinese governments, as well as the local police force that the Hong Kong people can hold protests in a rational and peaceful manner without any restrictions,” he mentioned.
Source: www.cnn.com