Hong Kong protests have been going on for 5 months now. The university is merely the latest escalation.
https://twitter.com/sitsit84249937/status/1196258459773046786
The Wall Street Journal reports Hong Kong Police Try to Storm University in Bid to Retake Campus From Protesters.
Large fires burned at a university here early Monday as police threatened lethal force and advanced on a group of increasingly militant pro-democracy activists armed with makeshift weapons who have occupied the campus for days.
Protesters inside the campus of Hong Kong Polytechnic University hurled Molotov cocktails as police tried to storm the grounds early Monday. The entryway and areas around the university’s perimeter were quickly engulfed in flames. One protester shown on live video was seen firing an arrow at the officers.
In some of the fiercest clashes since protests began in the Chinese-ruled city five months ago, police used on Sunday water-cannon blasts, tear gas and beanbag rounds against students who started a massive fire on a bridge, shot a police officer in the leg with an arrow and set fire to an armored car.
As the fighting continued, police said they would fire their guns if attacked by people police Superintendent Louis Lau described as “coldblooded rioters.”
“We don’t want to fight a war, but we have no choice,” said an activist manning the barricades at the university over the weekend, a 16-year-old high-school student wearing a black balaclava and protective goggles who gave his name as Quentin. “We want freedom, human rights.”
Police have responded with escalating force, shooting three protesters since the protests began.
Trapped Inside
The Guardian Live blog notes Hong Kong protest: police fire rounds of tear gas at protesters trying to leave campus
Mass arrests in Tsim Sha Tsui as Poly U remains under siege
Over the past two hours, attention has turned to the streets of Tsim Sha Tsui – outside Poly U – where over a hundred people have been arrested and detained in public.
As those inside the campus continue their standoff with police, dozens of people outside, who have variously been trying to reach the university, provide support or ask police to lift the siege, have been arrested.
A senior US official has also condemned the “unjustified use of force” in Hong Kong in recent days, and said they are monitoring the situation.
Earlier, the university president, Professor Teng Jin-guang, said he had negotiated a temporary suspension of the use of force with the police and urged protesters to “leave the campus in a peaceful manner”.
But as protesters tried to leave the university, at 8.30am, they were stopped by “round after round” of tear gas, lasting a few minutes, forcing them back inside.
Protesters are now currently still inside the university campus, fearing that they will be trapped and arrested en masse by police.
The police say the students are free to go, but the students say they are trapped inside.
Here are the conditions under which students are free to leave
Police say they fired tear gas because the protesters had thrown petrol bombs and “charged” at the police.
Those are both sides of the story. Pick one or neither.
Background
On June 16, I commented Two Million Protesters Flood Streets of Hong Kong: What’s It All About?
Protests began a week ago when the Hong Kong government passed a bill authorizing extraditions to mainland China.
The extradition legislation would allow residents and visitors to be sent for trial in China’s Communist-controlled courts, effectively squashing freedom of speech.
Hong Kong’s chief, Carrie Lam, rescinded the bill and even issued a rare apology following a week of massive protests, but that is not enough.
The protesters demand the resignation of Lam who insisted on pushing through the legislation despite the initial public outcry.
On August 12, I commented Protesters Swarm Hong Kong Airport All Flights Canceled
Hong Kong Recession
One has to wonder how much longer it will be before China takes matters into its hands.
Mike “Mish” Shedlock
It looks like all the comments here are from people who barely know Hong Kong. The original protest against the extradition was genuinely supported by the majority. But the current violent protestors are a tiny proportion of the population and the huge silent majority certainly DO NOT support them. Local majority is very angry at the wanton destruction and violence against bystanders who disagree with the violent protestors. The police have been incredibly restrained and professional. If such violence and vandalism happened anywhere else, including the US, UK or Australia, there would be a few dead by now. There is documented evidence of US govt funding the protestors (check the HK Cantonese press and some Cantonese videos). China is not doing anything overt yet, and will not do anything. They don’t need Hong Kong, HK needs China!
Honk Honk is going to get stomped.
The Chinese don’t give a dingos kidneys about optics
The West will not do a thing t
Neither did China do much to help, when the feds stomped all over the Montana Freemen’s efforts at One Country, Two Systems.
My wife’s family is from Hong Kong. They had their property seized and were put in interment camps for the duration of the war by the Japanese. Her grandfather was sent to Japan to work as a slave laborer in a lead mine and died there. They feel they are tragically seeing history repeat itself.
Hong Kong is dying as an outpost of the west. It’s tragic, heartbreaking to watch, and absolutely unavoidable.
The CCP simply cannot run the risk of appearing to compromise with Hong Kong…anymore than they could with the Uighurs, Tibet, IP theft, etc., etc.
“Hong Kong is dying as an outpost of the west.”
Not surprising, as The West is dying as well.
BS. Name changes to governance and policy that support your view! Hong Kong was a colony and never had democracy under the English — democracy and election of the executive power would be a new thing! Hong Kong has de facto been lead by a few elites, who answer to nobody. The current unrest is supported by a lot of discontent stemming from conditions only marginally connected to the “constitution”. The trigger was an extradition agreement that came about because some rich businessman got away with murdering his girlfriend in Taiwan (not mainland communist China), something that appears somewhat of loophole to normal justice.
The “fighting for Western freedoms against oppression” (in this case supposedly by the CCP) is a bit of a stretch here, but this meme always raises its head when it suits CIA-type objectives abroad.
Webej, I sense you’re trying to assign me a point of view in this. If so, you’ve missed the mark rather dramatically in assuming I support the Hong Kong authorities, the west, the CIA, or the CCP thugs in Beijing hoping to put out the Hong Kong fire without another killing spree like Tiananmen Square, 1989.
I view the problem as English in origin, circa 1839, including the eventual Vietnam war as we tried to help the French preserve their own imperialist outposts in Indo China. I was against that one before it was fashionable, too.
Agree that China can’t afford to allow Hong Kong to go by its own rules….
But then China can’t afford not to. Economic growth in China is VERY concentrated to the so-called special economic zones (Hong Kong, Shanghai and Tainjin). What the Chinese like to call “social harmony” depends on constantly getting 6-7% GDP growth (the way they measure it). Argue all you want about their measuring errors, but they require that growth to survive.
Lose that economic growth, and its Tiananman Square all over the place.
But the growth requires Beijing to back off.
Its lose-lose for Beijing, and Trump knows that even if the academic “experts” are a bit slow to catch up.
Students are at Poly U because all of hong kongs internet runs through some servers there, so the Chinese want to get control of information access and monitoring by getting into Poly U. The students know this, which was their original reason for going there. Pretty clear now that they are trapped/if they get arrested may spend ten years in jail.
My bet is they are trapped inside and will be used as examples when they try leaving.
Still care to turn your guns in?
A rather strange reaction to the new law. After all, this will not affect law-abiding residents of China, so what’s the problem? Bomb the city, throw Molotov cocktails at other residents of your country? Scary. I hope everything will return to normal soon. By the way, if you are looking for an academic essay on a relevant topic like this, with the most correct information, https://gradesking.com/write-my-essay-online/ – I advise you to contact them
Thanks, Pooh Bear. I’ll check it out!
Nobody tell@Sechel that Taiwan isn’t part of Hong Kong…
Sechel is derogatory towards trump but wants to retire with him ? Thankful that I don’t work in your office :-/
People in my office are required to understand sarcasm and have a sense of humor.
You are not qualified
Thanks for accepting me, you’re German it seems ?
Just a couple of thoughts.
Does China want to weaken Hong Kong economically? If the cities nearby become much richer than HK, I would expect to see migration out of HK to those cities. Those other cities like Shanghai and Shenzen dont appear to have this independence streak, so taking down HK slowly by destroying its economy would appear to have a lot of advantages for China.
Secondly, what do the people of Hong Kong really want right now? The revocation of the extradition rules, independence, British rule? I am not clear, but this looks to me like a cry for independence.
Hong Kong used to be very important for bringing funds and commerce into China. It was also always a bit of a double edged sword, as it also facilitated Chinese getting funds out, as well as serving as a protected space for critics of the Chinese regime.
For a long time, China put up with the downsides, because they lacked viable alternatives for obtaining the upsides. Which they needed.
But, slowly but surely, as China has grown, Hong Kong is no longer nearly as critical as it once was. Neither for funding nor for trade relations. Yet, the “downsides” still remain. So China now wants to limit those, by making Hong Kong less special, and more like any other Chinese city. And nothing will stop them from doing that, as the reasons for giving some people special privileges just for living in Hong Kong over somewhere else, are evaporating by the day.
Of course, Hong Kongers have been spoiled by those special privileges for two generations now. As without them, they really are in a bit of a bind. They have long since priced themselves out of competitiveness with the rest of Asia, by riding the wave of largely free money their special position as THE gateway to China has afforded them. Take that away, and what the heck are they going to do?
China has big plans to integrate the Pearl River delta cities more closely and explicitly wants to copy things that work in Hong Kong to the larger region. There were also plans to do something about the sky-high rents, which is specific to Hong Kong and one of the main reasons for discontent (but would bring conflict with the ruling local rentier elite).
The use of deadly force in Hong Kong give President Trump all the ammo he needs for trade negotiations, or an outright boycott of Chinese made goods.
Has the NBA and major NBA players issued their opinions yet?
aka: Pyrotechnic University. China thought they would just roll in and take it over. They are fighting hard on both sides because it is the internet hub for Hong Kong. Control the information and you control everything.
The three words I would describe you as, are difficult, hostile and definitely difficult!!!
China is in a lose-lose situation.
Let Hong Kong do its own thing, Beijing looks weak and irrelevant.
Storm Hong Kong with soldiers, and the brain drain turns into a deluge and sends a warning shot to the entrepreneur groups in Shanghai and Tianjin. All of the economic growth in China is in these three regions, while 75% of China still lives in 3rd world poverty (talk about income inequality!!!)
China also needs to be worried about the entrepreneurs in countries considering getting involved in the Road and Belt initiative. The NBA is a USA based entertainment complex, but was told to shut up and toe the line by Beijing.
No one doubts the Chinese military could have ended the protests weeks ago — but doing so has enormous risks.
China will win the battle, but lose the war.
.
PS — Chinese businesses are no longer able to launder money via California real estate, and they were pushed out of Vancouver a year or two ago. Hong Kong residents continue looking for new places to launder money and get it out of China — this attack on Hong Kong will make the exodus far more urgent