Protesters fill Hong Kong harbourside, with rallies planned over Christmas

Gatherings in malls, 'silent night' rally to be held today; permit applied for New Year's Day march

Protesters shining lights from cellphones and raising their hands to symbolise the pro-democracy movement's five demands at a rally in Hong Kong yesterday. PHOTO: ASSOCIATED PRESS
Protesters shining lights from cellphones and raising their hands to symbolise the pro-democracy movement's five demands at a rally in Hong Kong yesterday. PHOTO: ASSOCIATED PRESS

HONG KONG • More than 1,000 protesters, many wearing surgical masks and balaclavas, filled a harbourside plaza near Hong Kong's financial district late yesterday to demand full democracy and an independent inquiry into alleged police brutality.

As Hong Kong gears up for Christmas celebrations, the protesters are planning wildcat gatherings in prime shopping malls and a "silent night" rally later today.

The demonstrators gathered at the harbourside sang Glory To Hong Kong, a protest anthem, and shone lights from their mobile phones.

Henry, a 28-year-old bank employee, said he was in the plaza to protest against a recent police shutdown of Spark Alliance, a fund-raising platform for protesters. He wore a Guy Fawkes mask from the movie V For Vendetta, which glowed green in the dark.

"The Hong Kong government is ruining our reputation as a financial centre. How can they say we are a place for finance if they can shut down the fund so unreasonably?" he said.

The protests, now in their seventh month, have lost some of the scale and intensity of earlier confrontations. Police have arrested more than 6,000 people since the protests escalated in June, including more than 52 over the past weekend.

Many Hong Kong residents are angry at what they see as Beijing's meddling in the freedoms promised to the former British colony when it returned to Chinese rule in 1997.

China denies interfering and says it is committed to the "one country, two systems" formula put in place at that time and has blamed foreign forces for fomenting unrest.

On Sunday, a peaceful protest ended in clashes when black-clad, masked demonstrators attacked police with kicks and punches and threw bricks and bottles. Police responded with bursts of pepper spray. One officer drew his pistol and pointed it towards a crowd but did not fire, Reuters witnesses said.

Protesters plan to gather in five malls on Christmas Eve and will count down to Christmas near the harbour front in the bustling Tsim Sha Tsui district, according to social media posts. More protests are planned for tomorrow.

The Civil Human Rights Front, which has organised some of the biggest marches involving more than a million people, has also applied to stage another march on New Year's Day.

Some people taking part in Sunday's protest called for Hong Kong's independence from China and removed a Chinese flag from its pole, drawing condemnation from the government.

Both the Beijing and Hong Kong governments have made clear that such separatist rhetoric will not be tolerated.

"Advocating Hong Kong independence... is not conducive to the overall and long-term interest of Hong Kong society. It is also contrary to the established basic policies of the People's Republic of China regarding Hong Kong," the city government said in a statement overnight.

While police, including the leader of a major police union, have referred to the protesters as cockroaches, protesters routinely call the police dogs.

Yesterday, public broadcaster RTHK broadcast a video of a police public relations officer playing down the significance of the term "cockroach".

The officer said the term should not be "over-interpreted" because while it might be negative, another way to understand it was that cockroaches are "full of vitality".

REUTERS

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on December 24, 2019, with the headline Protesters fill Hong Kong harbourside, with rallies planned over Christmas. Subscribe