HONG KONG, Dec 1, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protesters
returned to the streets on Sunday for a series of marches and rallies after a
rare period of calm in nearly six months of unrest.
Sunday’s demonstrations come after brief skirmishes erupted overnight,
with a man assaulted as he tried to clear barricades and police firing tear
gas for the first time since November 24 district council elections that saw
pro-democracy candidates win a landslide.
Three events are planned for Sunday, including a march to the US consulate
to thank American leaders for legislation backing the city’s protest
movement.
An evening march will reiterate the movement’s five demands, which include
direct elections for the city’s legislature and leadership, and a probe into
alleged police brutality against demonstrators.
“I just want to remind everyone that despite the small victory in district
council election, we must not forget why we started all this and we must
return to our main theme — reclaim Hong Kong, revolution of our times; five
demands, not one less,” an organiser of the evening rally wrote on the
Reddit-like LIHKG forum.
Police have issued permits called “letters of no objection” for all three
events, including a morning rally for children and seniors which went ahead
without incident, and the post urged people to remain peaceful. “I want to
beg everyone to remain highly restrained during the hours covered by the
letter of no objection. Otherwise I could be charged with inciting riots,”
the organiser wrote in the anonymously penned post.
– Overnight clashes –
On Saturday night, police fired three rounds of tear gas for the first
time since the elections, after protesters blocked roads in the Mong Kok
neighbourhood.
Police have fired more than 12,000 tear gas canisters since the protests
began, with gas masks becoming a must-have for those attending demonstrations
but often a cause for arrest if discovered.
A video that emerged online also showed a protester brutally assaulting a
man as he attempted to clear a barricade.
The commentator mocks the man, who stumbles and then slumps over after
being hit across the head with a heavy metal object, blood trickling from a
wound. In a radio interview on Sunday morning, police chief Tang Ping-keung
said an attack took place in Mong Kok.
“It could have killed him,” Tang said.
A police source confirmed that the incident seen in the video occurred in
Mong Kok on Saturday night and that it was under investigation.
The condition of the man was not immediately clear. But hospital
authorities said three people were brought in on Saturday night with protest-
related injuries, one of whom was discharged while the other two were in a
stable condition.
Protests erupted in Hong Kong nearly six months ago in opposition to a
bill that would have allowed extraditions to mainland China.
The bill has been withdrawn, but the movement has snowballed into wider
calls to protect the city’s freedoms.