Friday, August 30, 2019

Multiple Arrests Begin In Hong Hong - A View Of The Future


Saturday Protest Canceled In Hong Kong After Sudden Arrest Of Key Activists

Summary: Saturday's planned protest in Hong Kong has been canceled after the arrest of three of Hong Kong's pro-democracy protest leaders on Friday; Joshua Wong, Andy Chan, and Agnes Chow.CNBC's Eunice Yoon notes that the arrests are being described on Chinese media as a crackdown on "the activists who create chaos in Hong Kong."


Update (0105ET): Saturday's planned protest marking the fifth anniversary of the 2014 event which sparked the Umbrella Movement has been canceled, according to The Guardian. 
Bonnie Leung from the Civil Human Rights Front said:
The appeal board has just rejected our appeal.
Our first principle is always to protect all the participants and make sure that no one could bear legal consequences because of participating in the protest that we organised.
However, because of the appeal board’s decision, we can see no way that we can keep this principle and also continue our march and protest. Therefore the civil human rights front has no option but to cancel the march tomorrow.
The Civil Human Rights Front would like to sincerely apologise to the public and hope you can understand what we explained and the difficulty we are facing. At the same time, we understand that the right to march and the right to protest is a human right and is very important to Hong HOng people. The CHRF will continue to apply for marches and apply for rallies.
"I think the police are using all kinds of excuses to arrest all kinds of people including us. They arrested Joshua Wong and Agnes Chow this morning so there is a real danger we could face the same consequences as well. We will try our best to preserve CHRF as a legal organiser. If we do otherwise, the police may use that as an excuse to give us even more trouble in the future," she added. 
It will be interesting to see who does come out, and what Hong Kong (and possibly Beijing) authorities do about it.

Update (2205ET):  Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Agnes Chow has been arrested,

Update (2145ET): Just minutes after the arrest of Joshua Wong (as we detailed below), Andy Chan, the leader of the banned pro-independence Hong Kong National Party, has reportedly  been detained whilst trying to board a flight to Japan.

A police spokesperson told HKFP that Chan was arrested on suspicion of rioting and assaulting a police officer. The Organized Crime And Triad Bureau are investigating.
*  *  *
As we detailed earlier, pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong has been arrested ahead of this weekend's planned protests throughout the city, according to the Hong Kong Free Press. 

According to his colleague, Nathan Law, Wong was forced into a private vehicle at 7:30 a.m. on the street and escorted to the Wan Chai police headquarters. According to Law, Wong is being held on three yet-unknown charges, and is being represented by attorneys. 
The arrest of Wong - who was released from prison on June 17 after serving a five-week sentence related to the 2014 pro-democracy Umbrella Movement - comes hours after pro-independence leader Andy Chan was arrested at the airport. 
Wong was the face of those 2014 protests which paralyzed parts of Hong Kong for 79 days. 




Beijing's role in directing the Hong Kong government throughout the extradition bill protests has been widely assumed, and following the arrest of three protest leaders Friday morning (local time), as well as the cancellation of Saturday's march, the long-anticipated crackdown (complete with a 'rotation' of PLA forces) appears to have finally started.

But in case there was any doubt left in your mind, Reuters published a lengthy report Friday detailing the extent to which the Chinese Communist Party has directed the Hong Kong government's response to the protests.
Hedge fund manager Kyle Bass noted on twitter that the troop "rotation" in Hong Kong looks more like an "invasion."
Fortunately for them, the detained protest leaders, a group that included Joshua Wong, the student protest leader who gained notoriety during the 2014 Umbrella movement, have been released.
Earlier this summer, Lam submitted a report to Beijing that analyzed the protesters demands and issued a finding: permanently withdrawing the extradition bill could help placate the people and end the protest movement. But Beijing was, unsurprisingly, firmly opposed to this, or meeting any of the protesters other demands.

The Chinese central government rejected Lam’s proposal to withdraw the extradition bill and ordered her not to yield to any of the protesters’ other demands at that time, three individuals with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.
While it comes as no surprise that China would be unwilling to show any weakness in dealing with the HK protesters, the Reuters report for the first time offers "concrete evidence" of the degree to which the Communist Party is calling the shots in Hong Kong. Lam's report was prepared for an Aug. 7 meeting in Shenzhen with the senior Chinese leadership intended to examine the feasibility of the protest movement's demands, and how acceding to some of them might help restore order. Ultimately, the Chinese leadership decided not to take any action on the protesters' demands, particularly when it comes to the withdrawal bill - which Lam has said is 'dead' but not completely 'withdrawn' - or investigations into excessive use of force by police. Instead, they ratcheted up their rhetoric about foreign interference.
Lam's report had been submitted to the Central Co-ordination Group for Hong Kong and Macau Affairs, a group led by the Politburo Standing Committee.

Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)