The Observer - 04.08.2019

Section:OBS 2N PaGe:31 Edition Date:190804 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 3/8/2019 17:57 cYanmaGentaYellowbla

• The Observer
  World 04.08.19 31

on night one of the two-part debate.

Both can fi re up young supporters in

a way Biden may envy. Luntz added:

“I think that there’s a feeling within

the Democratic party to go to the next

generation. Medicare for all under-

mines Obamacare. The Green New

Deal and the guaranteed living wage:

that’s not Bill Clinton’s Democratic

party, and it’s not Barack Obama’s .”

Many on the left fear that Biden v

Trump would be a replay of 2016’s

Clinton v Trump with a similar enthu-

siasm gap. They suggest that Biden’s

candidacy is in a slow decline.

Neil Sroka, spokesperson for the

progressive group Democracy for

America, said: “Joe Biden is the for-

mer vice-president of the United

States who served with an extremely

popular president, so it would be sur-

prising if his candidacy imploded. It’s

not a balloon that’s going to pop. It’s

leaking air .”

BELOW

This is appro

priate dummy

text that is bei

ng employed

in order toasc

ertain an approx

imatee length

because the

Hong Kong tensions

sharpen as protests

enter ninth week

still clearly overwhelmingly the front-

runner, but he is a frontrunner with

some serious challenges ahead of

him. He cannot afford a bad debate.

He has to do at least mediocre in every

debate between now and February.”

At 76 , Biden would surpass Trump

as the oldest person ever elected US

president and would be yet another

white man chosen from a diverse

fi eld that includes women, people of

colour and a 37-year-old gay mayor.

While he dominates the moder-

ates’ lane, his most signifi cant chal-

lenge may now come from the left.

Last week he was spared a direct

clash with senators Elizabeth Warren

and Bernie Sanders , who appeared

BELOW

Joe Biden on the

campaign trail

in Iowa last

month.

Photograph

by Charlie

Neibergall/AP

Demonstrators in Hong Kong clashed

once again with riot police last night

as the city entered its third consecu-

tive day of mass protests.

As night fell after a peaceful march

earlier in the day, thousands of pro-

testers occupied roads in Kowloon,

where they built barricades out of

dismantled metal traffi c barriers and

handed out hard hats, goggles and

gas masks.

Police fired multiple rounds of

teargas outside a police station after

protesters threw rubbish and traffi c

cones into the compound. Some of

the protesters tried to protect them-

selves with plastic shields while

some ran toward the canisters of

teargas and put them out with bot-

tles of water. Some shone lasers at

the police, while others beat on their

shields with umbrellas.

Lily Kuo

Hong Kong

The demonstrators, clad head to

toe in black and carrying umbrel-

las and orange helmets, handed out

water and bread. Some scrawled the

phone numbers of lawyers on their

arms in permanent marker in case

they were arrested. Riot police were

seen outside nearby police stations.

Protesters defied police orders,

deviating from an approved route

in Mong Kok and pushing south to

Tsim Sha Tsui , a district popular with

tourists and where demonstrators

believed the police were not expect-

ing them.

By the evening demonstrators had

occupied main roads and junctions,

and blocked the entrance to a tun-

nel. The police issued a statement

that all protesters were “participat-

ing in an unauthorised assembly, an

illegal act”.

As the city enters its ninth week of

protests, tensions are escalating as

authorities arrest people attending

unsanctioned protests and Beijing

issues increasingly stern threats, hint-

ing at possible military intervention.

The protests, which began over

a proposal to allow extradition to

China, pose the most serious chal-

lenge to Beijing’s authority over the

city since 1997, when it was returned

from British to Chinese control.

Last week Chen Daoxiang , the head

of the Chinese army garrison in Hong

Kong, said the military was “deter-

mined to protect [the] national sover-

eignty” of Hong Kong and would help

put down the “intolerable” unrest if

requested. The army released a video

showing tanks and soldiers fi ring on

citizens in an anti-riot drill. Some

protesters are increasingly worried

about violence and escalating police

tactics, including fi ring rubber bullets

as well as teargas. Police have report-

edly been testing water cannon.

Further protests are planned for

today. Many have called for a citywide

strike tomorrow.

ON OTHER PAGES

To win in the US and UK, the left

needs to embrace alliances

Observer Comment, page 40

Anti-extradition

bill protesters

gather outside

Tsim Sha Tsui

police station

yesterday.

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