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Hong Kong protesters undeterred by police warnings, raid
By Kirsty Needham
Hong Kong: Many thousands of Hong Kong residents slowly marched through the city streets for another mass protest against Carrie Lam’s government on Sunday, despite police warnings of violence and the discovery of explosive material in a police raid.
The crowd defied police demands that the protest march take a shorter route, and continued towards Admiralty, the parliament district.
Police messages on social media urged protesters at Admiralty to disperse. Multiple Lennon Walls - collections of colourful Post It notes with messages urging political reform - sprung up along the route.
Man, 30, wrote “Be water”, a famous quote from kung fu star Bruce Lee that has been adopted as the young protesters' motto as they try to evade arrest.
“We want freedom in Hong Kong,” she said.
Tom, 35, wrote the date of the November district council elections on his message.
“Everyone should vote,” he said, hoping that the street protests could propel more democracy advocates into all levels of government.
Some democracy activists responded on social media to news of the police raid, suggesting the timing of it appeared designed to discourage the public from turning out to the latest march, by stirring memories of the 1967 riots when Hong Kong was rocked by bombings.
Legislative Councillor Ray Chan of People Power at Sunday's rally. Credit: Kirsty Needham
Gathering at Victoria Park ahead of the start of the protest march, Ice Lo, 48, said she didn’t believe police when they had told the TV news that bomb material had been found and it may be linked to the protesters.
"We came today because we love Hong Kong. Carrie Lam is the bad guy," she said.
Ivan, 19, said the police press conference was designed to put off the public from joining the march.
An unnamed 27-year-old member of the Hong Kong National Front, a small independence group headed by political activist Baggio Leung, plus two other men, were arrested by police after Friday's raid on a warehouse they said was used for bomb making.
Leung was expelled from the Legislative Council for insulting China as he took his oath of office in 2016, after Beijing intervened in a court case. He had been popularly elected.
Demonstrators gather at Tamar Park during the pro-government Safeguard Hong Kong Rally in Hong Kong.Credit: Bloomberg
TATP, or triacetone triperoxide, can be manufactured using household ingredients and recipes found on the internet, according to scientists, but is highly unstable.
National Front said in a statement it was using the warehouse to store promotional and audio equipment and didn't know why 2 kilograms of TATP explosives were found there.
Police displayed to television cameras another 10 petrol bombs, sling shots, knives, loudspeakers and t-shirts with slogans opposing the extradition bill, that were also discovered in the warehouse. Police said they were investigating if there were any links to the protests.
These school students are afraid to show their faces in a picture because of government threats that protesters will be arrested. Credit: Kirsty Needham
Carrie Lam's government last year banned another pro-independence political party, the Hong Kong National Party, on national security grounds after Chinese president Xi Jinping outlined that separatism wouldn't be tolerated by Beijing.
Protest marches since June have called for greater democracy and universal suffrage, not independence.
The Civil Human Rights Front, which organised the earlier marches against the extradition bill that had attracted up to 2 million people in June, said it was disappointed that police had demanded Sunday's march be cut short, restricted to only three streets, and wouldn't be permitted to pass the police headquarters or parliament precinct.
They said the marchers would demand an independent commission be set up to investigate police handling of the extradition bill protests.
School students Kylie, 18 and Rex, 14, who were at the protest on Sunday said the TV news about the bomb material had made them "a bit worried".
But they decided to come regardless because they hoped Carrie Lam would listen to people this time. "The government didn’t really withdraw the bill and we are afraid the government is waiting for the people to forget about it and morale to go and then they will bring it back," said Kylie.
A Methodist church in Wanchai, where the march will end, planned an overnight church service. Religious gatherings are exempt from Hong Kong public order laws, and multiple church congregations and religious leaders have attended marches singing hymns to provide legal cover.
Hong Kong police headquarters, which were beseiged twice last month by protesters, were surrounded by two-metre high water-filled barriers in preparation for the latest march.
Lam last week condemned young protesters for violence that broke out after a smaller march last Sunday at the Sha Tin shopping mall.
A large rally in support of police and condemning violence was briefly held at Tamar Park outside the Legislative Council on Saturday evening.
Police estimated around 100,000 people had attended the Safeguard Hong Kong rally, which was organised by pro-Beijing politicians and saw large numbers of community groups from the New Territories arriving together and assembling behind banners which proclaimed their ancestral links to China. Organisers said 300,000 had attended.
Many said they had come to simply support police and call for peace.
Ken Kong, 50, said he was glad the extradition bill that sparked the protests was gone, but he was unhappy at the recent violence.
"We have many problems waiting for us to resolve, but as a citizen born in Hong Kong, I want peace. Speak out, but according to the law. Don't hurt anyone," he said.
"The most violent people are a small group and they don't represent the citizens going to the parades."
Nelson Chan, 63, said: "I hate violence. The teenagers should be re-educated on what is black and white, and what is wrong and right."
He said he was a school child when Hong Kong was rattled by bombings in 1967 amid riots spurred on by leftists, and didn't like the level of violence that had appeared at last week's Sha Tin protest.
Yoga teacher Catherine, 43, said she was born in Hong Kong, studied at university in London, and now worked in the United States and from what she had seen overseas she believed that Hong Kong police were "a good team".
She said protesters had thrown dog food at police in Sha Tin last Sunday.
"Some protesters are really peaceful but we should admit there's a team of people going into the protest to do the wrong thing," she said.
Another businesswoman said she was angry at the young protesters who "don't pay tax or contribute anything and are just trying to destroy things".
"I like that Hong Kong is part of China. My parents migrated from the mainland and we worked hard," she said, before explaining that she needed to leave the rally to go and get a facial.
Many in the crowd dispersed after a short time.