democracy in Hong Kong

Hong Kong Court Dismisses Bid to Suspend Mask Ban

While the complainants failed to have the mask ban suspended, they did win a judicial review, which will resume in late October.

Pro-democracy lawmakers in Hong Kong on Sunday failed to secure an immediate injunction against a recent face mask ban for protesters and an end to a government-declared emergency that bypassed the city’s legislature.

The legal challenge before Hong Kong’s High Court was the second attempt after an initial bid failed on Friday night just hours after Chief Executive Carrie Lam announced the ban.

Hong Kong lawmaker Dennis Kwok had earlier compared the government’s emergency powers to absolute monarchies, saying: “This is a Henry VIII situation. This is basically, I say what is law … and I say when that ceases to be law. That’s not how our constitution works.”

The mask ban will need to be approved by the territory’s legislative council, which resumes session on October 16.

While the complainants failed to have the mask ban suspended, they did win a judicial review, which will resume in late October.

Also read: More Powers to Be Granted to Hong Kong Police, Masks to Be Banned

Government: Emergency justified by ‘extreme violence’

Metro stations partially reopened in parts of the city on Sunday after a day of eerie quiet in public transport hubs and shopping malls. On Friday, Chief Executive Carrie Lam invoked colonial-era emergency powers last used in the city more than 50 years ago to try and bring an end to the months of protests against her administration and the government in Beijing.

Lam said the use of emergency powers was justified by the “extreme violence” of Friday’s protests, which came after the government implemented a ban on wearing masks to the demonstrations, one of the means participants have to protect themselves from identification and surveillance.

Many have since worn masks in defiance of the ban, and some vented their anger by setting fires, throwing Molotov cocktails and burning the Chinese flag. A 14-year-old boy was shot and wounded on Friday when a police officer who was surrounded by protesters and fired his service weapon. Earlier in the week, another teenager was shot and wounded by police as he attacked an officer as China celebrated 70 years of Communist Party rule.

The protests originally began in March in opposition to an extradition bill that has since been scrapped, but they have since come to encompass wider demands. Demonstrators are calling for the democracy promised to them when the territory was handed over to China from Britain in 1997, and fear living under authoritarianism present in mainland China.

This article was first published in DW.

Hong Kong Metro Stays Shut After Night Of Violent Protests

Friday’s protests across the Chinese-ruled city erupted hours after its embattled leader, Carrie Lam, invoked colonial-era emergency powers last used more than 50 years ago to ban face masks.

Hong Kong: Hong Kong’s metro system will stay shut, on Saturday, the rail operator said, paralysing transport in the Asian financial hub after a night of chaos in which police shot a teenage boy and pro-democracy protesters torched businesses and metro stations.

Friday’s protests across the Chinese-ruled city erupted hours after its embattled leader, Carrie Lam, invoked colonial-era emergency powers last used more than 50 years ago to ban face masks, which demonstrators use to conceal their identities.

Increasingly violent demonstrations that have roiled the city for four months began in opposition to a bill introduced in April that would have allowed extradition to mainland China but have since spiralled into a broader pro-democracy movement.

MTR Corp said that its network, which carries about 5 million passengers each day, would remain suspended, while shopping malls and supermarkets also closed, in a new blow for retailers and restaurants in a city on the edge of recession.

Water from a fire hydrant spill inside MTR station after leader Carrie Lam announced emergency laws that would include banning face masks at protests, in Wong Tai Sin district, in Hong Kong, October 4, 2019. Photo: Reuters/Athit Perawongmetha

“As we are no longer in a position to provide safe and reliable service to passengers in the circumstances, the corporation had no choice but to make the decision to suspend the service of its entire network,” it said in a statement.

Protesters had set fires at stations, as well as to an empty train, and injured two staff, added MTR, which is known for operating one of the world’s most efficient rail networks.

All stations closed late on Friday, stranding passengers and forcing many to walk home, a situation set to worsen as the city goes into a holiday weekend. Further demonstrations are planned across Hong Kong through Monday, which is a public holiday, but it was not immediately clear how the transport shutdown would affect them.

More than a dozen shopping malls, supermarkets, and branches of Bank of China (Hong Kong), Bank of East Asia, and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, which have been targeted by protesters, said that they would not open on Saturday.

Lam, Hong Kong’s Beijing-backed leader, said that the ban on face masks that took effect from Saturday was ordered under emergency laws allowing authorities to “make any regulations whatsoever” in what they deem to be the public interest.

But the move enraged protesters, who took to the streets to vent their anger, many wearing masks in defiance of the ban. There were no immediate reports of arrests over the masks.

Also read: Hong Kong to Ban Face Masks as Protesters Prepare For More Demonstrations

Demonstrators set fires, hurled petrol bombs at police and burned the Chinese national flag, in a direct challenge to authorities in Beijing.

Police said that an officer in Yuen Long, a district in the outlying New Territories that saw fierce clashes in July, had fired a shot in self-defence after a protester threw a petrol bomb at him, setting him on fire.

Media said that a 14-year-old boy had been shot and the city’s Hospital Authority said that his condition was now stable, but gave no details.

About 100 demonstrators besieged a branch of the Bank of China (Hong Kong) in the high-end shopping district of Causeway Bay, while across the harbour in the district of Kowloon, protesters smashed the glass store front of a China Life branch.

Police fired volleys of tear gas to disperse protesters in flash-point districts such as Causeway Bay, Sha Tin and Wong Tai Sin, underscoring the challenges authorities face as the protests show no sign of letting up.

Hospital authorities said that 31 people were hurt in Friday’s protests, two of them seriously.

(Reuters)

Chinese Diplomat Calls Hong Kong Situation ‘Worst Crisis Since 1997’

Honk Kong has been engulfed in protests for the past three months against the now suspended extradition bill that would allow greater Chinese control over the city.

Shanghai: Senior Chinese diplomat Wang Yi told a Hong Kong business delegation that more support should be given to the city’s government to end violence that has evolved into the biggest crisis it has faced since the return to Chinese rule in 1997.

Hong Kong has been engulfed in angry and sometimes violent protests against the government for three months, sparked by a now-suspended extradition bill and concerns that Beijing was trying to bring the territory under greater mainland control.

Police fired water cannon and tear gas at anti-government demonstrators on Sunday, and Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam later warned that authorities would be forced to stamp down on the escalating violence.

The China Daily warned in an editorial that the gap between the government and protesters appeared to be “unbridgeable”, with the administration not able to “swallow the pills the demonstrators prescribe”.

However, Wang said in Beijing on Tuesday that, while Hong Kong was facing its most serious challenge since the handover, it was capable of overcoming its problems with the support of the government and the unity of Hong Kong residents.

According to a notice on China’s official government website, Wang said business groups should also play a positive role by helping young people take part in the city’s economic development.

(Reuters)

Thousands Rally in Hong Kong Over Beijing’s Growing Influence

Beijing’s refusal to grant full democracy to Hong Kong triggered massive street protests in 2014 and deepened resentment toward China’s perceived growing encroachment on the territory, where its influence in nearly every facet of life has increased.

Hong Kong: Thousands of Hong Kong people braved sweltering heat on Sunday to protest against Beijing’s tightening grip over the city as the former British colony marked the 21st anniversary of its return to Chinese rule.

The protestors included elderly people in wheelchairs, couples with sleeping toddlers and young residents, some of whom waved banners saying: “End one party rule; Against the fall of Hong Kong.”

“Now the government is already siding with the Communist Party. Can Hong Kong see any universal suffrage in 20 or 30 year’s time? I don’t think so,” said 13-year-old Joanna Wen, who was accompanied by her father.

Hong Kong is a former British colony that was returned to China in 1997 under a “one country, two systems” formula guaranteeing it a high degree of autonomy and the promise of eventual universal suffrage.

Pro-Hong Kong independence supporters take part in a march in Hong Kong, China, July 1, 2018, the day marking the 21st anniversary of the city’s handover to Chinese sovereignty from British rule. Credit: Reuters/Bobby Yip

Hundreds of police were deployed on Sunday as some demonstrators marched with yellow umbrellas, a symbol of democratic activism in the city.

At a ceremony early on Sunday to mark the handover anniversary, chief executive Carrie Lam asserted that the “one, country, two systems” framework remains intact under her watch.

Lam took over as governor of Hong Kong a year ago, pledging at a ceremony attended by Chinese President Xi Jinping to be accountable to both Beijing and Hong Kong.

“Without fear, we correctly deal with our relationship with the central government. And we promote a stronger understanding of the constitution, the Basic Law, and national security in all sectors,” Lam said at a Sunday morning cocktail reception.

Also present at the ceremony were the three former chief executives – Tung Chee-wah, Donald Tsang and Leung Chun-ying, as well as mainland officials.

While Hong Kong activists push for greater democracy, the city is being pulled under mainland China’s control, and some Hong Kong residents say the old border that has defined the city’s autonomy is slowly withering away.

Lam faces a test later this year with the opening of two highly symbolic infrastructure projects – a bridge and high-speed rail line linking Hong Kong with mainland China.

The projects are part of a broader Beijing plan dubbed the Greater Bay Area, overseen by Xi, to integrate the city into the Pearl River Delta and improve the flow of people and money between Hong Kong and the mainland.

Veteran pro-democracy barrister Martin Lee said the opening of the bridge and rail line will kick-start Hong Kong‘s absorption into the Greater Bay Area.

“That seems to be the plan of Beijing, to have Hong Kong absorbed into this bay area… Hong Kong will no longer be Hong Kong,” Lee said.

Lam was chosen by a largely pro-Beijing committee of some 1,200 people in the city of 7.3 million.

Her approval ratings have dipped since then. A University of Hong Kong survey of 1,000 people put her approval rating at 54.3 %, down from 61.1 % a year ago.

(Reuters)

Hong Kong Democracy Activists Granted Bail

The trio helped lead the largely peaceful “Umbrella Movement” that blocked major roads for 79 days in 2014, demanding Beijing grant Hong Kong full democracy.

Student leaders Joshua Wong and Nathan Law arrive at the High Court to face verdict on charges relating to the 2014 pro-democracy Umbrella Movement, also known as Occupy Central protests, in Hong Kong, China August 17, 2017. Credit: Reuters

Hong Kong: Hong Kong‘s highest court granted bail to two prominent young pro-democracy activists, Joshua Wong and Nathan Law, on Tuesday pending an appeal over their jail terms for unlawful assembly linked to the city’s mass pro-democracy protests in 2014.

Hong Kong‘s appeals court jailed Wong, 21, Law, 24 and Alex Chow, 27, leaders of the Chinese-ruled city’s democracy movement, in August. Their sentencing came as a blow to the youth-led push for universal suffrage and prompted accusations of political interference.

The trio helped lead the largely peaceful “Umbrella Movement” that blocked major roads for 79 days in 2014, demanding Beijing grant Hong Kong full democracy.

Hong Kong has been governed under a “one country, two systems” formula since its return from British to Chinese rule in 1997, allowing freedoms not enjoyed on mainland China that include an independent judiciary.

Hong Kong Chief Justice Geoffrey Ma, who heads the Court of Final Appeal, granted Wong and Law bail of HK$50,000 ($6,408) each while they appeal against their respective six-month and eight-month jail terms.

“There’s no flight risk,” Ma told the court.

Chow did not apply for bail.

Ma said a Court of Final Appeal hearing would be held on Nov. 7 to consider the trio’s applications for appeal.

The next legal steps will likely be scrutinised closely, with the jailings having shaken confidence in Hong Kong‘s vaunted rule of law.

Wong, Chow and Law were sentenced last year to community service for unlawful assembly. However, Reuters reported that Justice Secretary Rimsky Yuen had overruled other senior colleagues to re-open the case and push for a harsher sentence that eventually led to their imprisonment.

A group of senior international lawyers recently issued a joint letter saying the jailings posed a serious threat to the city’s rule of law.

(Reuters)