'Lady Liberty' erected above Hong Kong
Reuters Videos Reuters Videos•October 13, 2019
In the dead of night, several dozen Hong Kong protesters scaled the city's Lion Peak early on Sunday (October 13), carrying with them their version of Lady Liberty.
The three-meter statue represents an injured protester, believed by activists to have been shot in the eye by a police projectile, and holds a banner saying 'revolution of our time, liberate Hong Kong'.
Alex, one of the protesters, says he hopes it will inspire people to keep fighting.
Hong Kong's Lady Liberty can be seen from the city below where, on Sunday, she watched over protesters and riot police clashing in chaotic scenes.
Several rallies were held in shopping centers against what is seen as Beijing's tightening grip on the city.
Police made numerous arrests and deployed tear gas after hardcore activists trashed shops and metro stations and erected road blocks.
More than 2,300 people have been arrested since the demonstrations started in June.
Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam says 40% of those detained since September were under the age of 18 and 10% under the age of 15.
香港民主女神像製作過程｜
Making of Lady Liberty Hong Kong
Who is Lady Liberty of the Hong Kong protests? What’s the back story?
The hope is that it can motivate people in Hong Kong’s democratic movement, says Hong Kong protest coordinator Lomy.
“We hope that different voices in the society can come into consensus to create a better future for Hong Kong,” he says. “The statue reminds people of the Tiananmen democratic movement in China.”
In 1989, more than a million Chinese civilians, many of them students, staged the biggest challenge to the Communist Party’s legitimacy since it came to power in 1949. The pro-democracy demonstrations were sparked by the April 15 death of a former party chief, Hu Yaobang, who had a reputation as a liberalizer.
Hong Kong is now facing a similar situation, says Lomy. A controversial extradition bill was originally proposed by Hong Kong’s government in February and covered mainland China and other jurisdictions that don’t have an extradition agreement with Hong Kong. Lam and the law’s backers originally defended it as necessary to ensure the city wouldn’t become a refuge for suspected fugitives.
Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam said she would formally withdraw the bill allowing extraditions to the mainland, which triggered the unrest in early June. But demonstrators now have a host of other demands, and Beijing has ruled out the biggest one: the right to elect a leader of their choosing.
The posture of Lady Liberty looks like she is leading the movement. The protesters’ five key demands are written on a black flag that she raises in her hand. She carries an umbrella to protect herself as well as a school bag, which “is a signature image of the frontline protesters.”
“What’s under her is something is something we want to see the least but we need to show tear gas,” says Lomy. “The police fired a lot of tear gas canisters and the smoke from them. “
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Multiple arrests in Hong Kong as "flashmob" protests hit pro-Bejing targets
AFP AFP•October 13, 2019
Police clear barricades left by protestors. Clashes between police and activists were less intense than at the start of October when the city was virtually shut down
Police clear barricades left by protestors. Clashes between police and activists were less intense than at the start of October when the city was virtually shut down (AFP Photo/Mohd RASFAN)
Riot police clashed with anti-government protesters across Hong Kong Sunday as masked activists vandalised businesses deemed sympathetic to Beijing in another weekend of chaos in the financial hub.
Rallies erupted in multiple neighbourhoods, with some protesters blocking roads, sabotaging train tracks, and trashing pro-China businesses.
Police said an officer was taken to hospital after his neck was slashed. Local television networks also broadcast footage of a man beaten bloody by protesters after they found a baton in his bag and suspected him of being an undercover officer.
Police have increasingly posed as protesters, scoring some tactical successes and sparking widespread paranoia among frontline demonstrators.
During cat-and-mouse encounters on Sunday officers made dozens of arrests, but there were fewer protesters than have taken to the streets more recently during the four-month long protest movement.
In Mongkok, a bustling shopping district on the Kowloon peninsula, officers burst from an unmarked van over a blockade of bamboo scaffolding and quickly chased down multiple protesters.
Later, an AFP reporter in the neighbourhood saw protesters beat a woman earlier accused of helping police clear barricades.
The woman was struck with fists and umbrellas, and also had her face smeared with mud.
Protesters have increasingly turned on their ideological opponents in recent weeks, while Beijing loyalists have attacked democracy activists throughout the summer.
- 'Blossom everywhere' -
Online forums used to organise the largely leaderless movement advertised Sunday as a "blossom everywhere" day, encouraging activists to gather in malls across the city.
Protests and clashes were reported in half a dozen neighbourhoods, with police saying they fired tear gas during two incidents.
While the crowds were thinner, the flashmob tactics stretched police resources and still brought chaos to parts of the city for a 19th consecutive weekend.
Throughout the day, police found themselves berated and heckled by bystanders as they made arrests, highlighting how the force has become loathed and pilloried by large parts of the population.
"I’m furious," a female protester, who gave her surname as Chan, told AFP. "I want the government to disband the entire police force."
Hong Kong has been shaken by four months of massive democracy protests which have seen increasingly violent clashes between hardcore demonstrators and police, as well as regular transport disruptions.
The protests were sparked by opposition to a now-scrapped proposal to allow extraditions to mainland China, but have since morphed into a larger movement for democracy and police accountability.
- Spiralling violence -
The city enjoys unique rights under the terms of its handover to China by Britain in 1997 -- including freedom of expression and an independent judiciary -- but many believe these are under threat from an increasingly assertive Beijing.
Street battles between riot police and small groups of protesters have become a weekly occurrence, hammering the already struggling economy, spooking tourists and undermining Hong Kong's reputation for stability.
The beginning of October saw a particularly fierce period of unrest with protesters upping their violence as Communist China celebrated its 70th birthday party.
Clashes further intensified after the city's leader invoked colonial-era emergency laws to ban face masks at protests.
Over the course of a week, protesters went on a vandalism spree, much of it targeting the city's subway network and pro-China businesses.
Police also increased their response, firing tear gas and rubber bullets with renewed ferocity. Two teenagers were wounded with live rounds during clashes with police.
But the last few days have seen a comparatively calmer period.
Protesters are pushing for an independent inquiry into the police, an amnesty for the more than 2,500 people arrested and universal suffrage.
Beijing, and city leader Carrie Lam, repeatedly rejected those demands.
Petrol bombs thrown in Hong Kong metro, protesters defy face mask ban
Police officers patrol the streets following demonstration march in protest against the invocation of the emergency laws in Hong Kong
By Noah Sin
HONG KONG (Reuters) - Petrol bombs were thrown inside a Hong Kong metro station on Saturday but no one was injured, the government said, as pro-democracy protesters again took to the streets angry at what they believe is Beijing's tightening grip on the city.
The Kowloon Tong station was seriously damaged in the attack, the government said in a statement. Riot police deployed in the streets of Kowloon and inside several metro stations afterward.
Hundreds of protesters, many young and wearing face masks, were marching in Kowloon at the time and were headed to a district near the Kowloon Tong station.
"No crime to cover our faces, no reason to enact (anti-mask) law," protesters chanted. "I have the right to wear masks!"
The Hong Kong government introduced colonial-era emergency laws last week to ban the wearing of face masks at public rallies, a move that sparked some of the worst violence since the unrest started in June.
Some protesters erected road barricades using public garbage bins and water-filled plastic barriers used for traffic control and security.
Protesters elsewhere set fire to a government office in Kowloon and vandalized shops and metro stations, the government said.
There were no skirmishes between protesters and police and by nightfall protesters had dispersed into small groups scattered around Kowloon.
Hong Kong's protests started in opposition to a now-abandoned extradition bill but have mushroomed in four months into a pro-democracy movement and an outlet for anger at social inequality in the city, an Asian financial hub.
The protests have plunged the city into its worst crisis since Britain handed it back to China in 1997 and is the biggest popular challenge to Chinese President Xi Jinping since he came to power in 2012.
The protests have been driven by a concern that China has been eroding Hong Kong's freedoms, guaranteed under a "one country, two systems" formula introduced with the 1997 handover.
The now-withdrawn extradition bill, under which residents would have been sent to Communist-controlled mainland courts, was seen as the latest move to tighten control.
China denies the accusation and says foreign countries, including Britain and the United States, are fomenting unrest.
Hong Kong's leader Carrie Lam canceled a meeting with U.S. Senator Ted Cruz, the highest profile U.S. politician to visit the city since the unrest started, Cruz said on Saturday.
"I stand with the people of Hong Kong calling on the government of China to honor the promises it made to the world when it promised to maintain political freedom in Hong Kong," said Cruz, a vocal critic of China, who was dressed in black in solidarity with pro-democracy activists.
'DEFEND THE FUTURE'
Hong Kong had experienced relative calm since last weekend, when a peaceful march by tens of thousands spiraled into a night of running battles between protesters and police.
Since then there had only been small nightly protests and activists had not flagged any major action this weekend.
A small group calling itself the "Silver-Haired Marchers" began a 48-hour sit-in at police headquarters on Saturday, describing themselves as "old but not obsolete".
"The young people have already sacrificed a lot, it is about time for us, the senior citizens in Hong Kong to come forward to take up part of the responsibility from the young people," 63-year-old Shiu told local media.
"I mean for us, even if we are caught by the police because of an illegal gathering, I don’t mind," said Shiu, who was identified with only one name.
Police have arrested more than 2,300 people since June. Since September nearly 40% were under the age of 18 and 10% under 15.
Some protest marchers on Saturday covered their faces with photocopies of the Chinese president's face, others with "V for Vendetta" Guy Fawkes masks, and a group of protesters plan a "face mask party" on Saturday night.
The face mask ban carries a maximum one-year jail term, but thousands, including school children and office workers, have defied the order.
POLICE CRISIS OF CONFIDENCE
Hong Kong's police are also facing a crisis of confidence amid the worsening political tensions. Protesters accuse them of using excessive force, which police deny, and two protesters have been shot and wounded during skirmishes with police.
Hong Kong is facing its first recession in a decade due to the protests, with tourism and retail hardest hit.
Many shops have been shutting early to avoid becoming a target of protesters and due to closures of the damaged metro. Some stations on the network were closed on Saturday after being targeted.
Protesters have also targeted China banks and shops with perceived links to China, as well as U.S. coffee chain Starbucks
