The New York Times - 30.07.2019

A6 N THE NEW YORK TIMES INTERNATIONALTUESDAY, JULY 30, 2019

BEIJING — The Chinese gov-
ernment on Monday laid down its
firm support of Hong Kong’s em-
battled leader and police force but
failed to offer any clear solutions
after two months of rolling pro-
tests that have flared into violence
and stoked opposition to Chinese
rule.
Chinese officials made a
strongly worded defense of the lo-
cal Hong Kong authorities during
a rare news conference in Beijing
by the government office that
oversees policy toward the city.
But they failed to address the
demonstrators’ demands for more
accountability in the police force
and a greater say in the city’s fu-
ture, which could pave the way for
more unrest.
“Hong Kong cannot afford to
have instability,” Yang Guang, a
spokesman for the Chinese gov-
ernment’s Hong Kong and Macau
Affairs Office, told reporters.
“Should the chaos continue, it is
the entire Hong Kong society that
will suffer.”
Protest organizers quickly said
the briefing could feed the mo-
mentum of the demonstrations by
reinforcing the widely held per-
ception that Beijing and the city’s
leadership are oblivious to the will
of Hong Kong’s residents.
The remarks by Chinese offi-
cials on Monday came days after a
People’s Liberation Army spokes-
man hinted that military force
could be used to bring to heel the
antigovernment demonstrations
that have become regular events
in Hong Kong since June. The
demonstrations have repeatedly
turned into violent melees as
smaller groups of more confronta-
tional protesters have faced off
with police officers who have used
tear gas and clubs against them,
including this past weekend.
In his opening remarks, Mr.
Yang expressed support for the
city’s leader, Carrie Lam, and the
police, who have come under criti-
cism for what protesters say is the
excessive use of force against
demonstrators. Later, another of-
ficial at the news conference, Xu
Luying, emphasized that the cen-
tral government would continue
to support Mrs. Lam “in govern-
ing under the law, and unifying
and leading Hong Kong people
from all walks of life to defend
Hong Kong’s political situation of
prosperity and stability.”
Mr. Yang also said the Hong
Kong government should work on
addressing economic issues in-
cluding challenges with employ-
ment and schooling, a housing cri-
sis, and the rising cost of living.
The news briefing appeared
aimed at dousing the wave of op-
position in Hong Kong — the most
sustained challenge to China’s
hold over the territory since 1997,
when Britain returned it to Chi-
nese sovereignty.
By emphasizing its support for
Mrs. Lam but also her responsibil-
ity in upholding the law, central
government officials seemed to

indicate that it was now up to Mrs.

Lam, her administration and the

police to put an end to the months

of strife.

The news briefing also ap-

peared aimed at signaling that the

ruling Communist Party in Bei-

jing is watching developments in

the territory very closely and

wants to frame the unrest as the

work of the party’s enemies, as

well as economic strains, and not a

result of failings in its policies to-

ward Hong Kong.

Willy Lam, an adjunct professor

at the Center for China Studies at

the Chinese University of Hong

Kong, said the officials’ emphasis

on providing job and business op-

portunities in the mainland for the

youth of Hong Kong was Beijing’s

way of “throwing money at the

problem.”

“There was no sign of tackling

the crux of the issue, which is lack

of democratic development in

Hong Kong,” Mr. Lam said. “No

new solutions were provided.”

The protests crystallized

around opposition to proposed

legislation that would have

opened the way to extraditions of

criminal suspects from Hong

Kong to the Chinese mainland.

Many Hong Kongers distrust the

Chinese mainland’s courts and po-

lice, which are controlled by the

Communist Party, and opposition

was widespread.

After huge demonstrations in

early June, Mrs. Lam, the Beijing-

backed chief executive of Hong

Kong, suspended the proposed

law indefinitely. But the pro-

testers have continued taking to

the streets every week, especially

on weekends, demanding a full

withdrawal of the legislation and

voicing a wider array of griev-

ances.

Mrs. Lam has refused to make

any further concessions and her

advisers have indicated that the

administration is confident it can

ride out further protests, despite

the escalating unrest and signs

that the economy could suffer. Po-

litical tensions and the worsening

trade war between the United

States and China have already

driven down Hong Kong stocks

more than 5 percent since early

April, and by the end of the day on

Monday, shares were down more

than 1 percent.

China had promised to give

Hong Kong wide-ranging autono-

my after 1997, including maintain-

ing its independent courts and

other freedoms that set it apart

from mainland China. But many

Hong Kong residents say their

city’s distinctive status has been

sharply eroded, especially under

Xi Jinping, the leader of the Chi-

nese Communist Party since 2012.

The demonstrators are increas-

ingly angered by the absence of

democratic government, a ruling

class that has become more be-

holden to Beijing than to Hong

Kong, and what protesters and

some experts have said are exces-

sively heavy-handed methods

used by the police to subdue

crowds.

Government critics in Hong

Kong said the comments did noth-

ing to address the concerns of the

public at large, and instead were

directed at Mrs. Lam’s adminis-

tration and its supporters.

“We believe this press confer-

ence was not for the Hong Kong

people to watch,” said Bonnie Le-

ung of the Civil Human Rights

Front, which has organized sev-

eral large marches. “It is for the

government and also the pro-gov-

ernment camp and the police

force.”

The Chinese government and

its supporters in Hong Kong have

focused their outrage on the dem-

onstrators, especially those who

have attacked government build-

ings and hurled bricks and steel

poles at the phalanxes of police of-

ficers. The anger from Beijing

grew after protesters vandalized

the outside of the Chinese govern-

ment liaison office in Hong Kong,

including throwing paint on the

national emblem.

The cycle of protests and force-

ful police response continued over

the weekend. On Saturday and

Sunday, the police fired tear gas

and rubber bullets at crowds of

demonstrators who had come out

to denounce a mob attack on pro-

testers and what they say is a po-

lice force that acts without ac-

countability.

On Monday, the Chinese gov-

ernment defended the city’s police

force. “We understand the huge

pressure facing the Hong Kong

police and their families, and

would like to salute the Hong

Kong police who have been fear-

lessly sticking to their posts and

fulfilling their duties against all

odds,” Mr. Yang said.

Mr. Yang also condemned the

violence of Saturday’s protest, in

which demonstrators ripped off

fences and moved steel barri-

cades to form blockades, and

threw hard objects at the police.

But Mr. Yang did not specifically

address the mob attack that had

prompted that rally in the first

place, deferring to earlier com-

ments from the police. He ap-

peared to dismiss as “unfounded”

the fears some have that orga-

nized crime societies are collud-

ing with the authorities to carry

out political violence.

Reports in the Chinese state

news media have also defended

the Hong Kong police and even

urged them to take more forceful

measures.

“Hong Kong police must no

longer be like gentle nannies

when they’re enforcing the law,”

an editorial in the overseas edition

of People’s Daily, the Communist

Party’s main newspaper, said on

Monday.

Statement

By Beijing

Could Roil

Hong Kong

By CHRIS BUCKLEY

and AUSTIN RAMZY

After a third straight weekend

of violence during protests in

Hong Kong, Yang Guang, on

TV at left, a Chinese spokes-

man, said Beijing “would like to

salute the Hong Kong police.”

LAM YIK FEI FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

ANTHONY WALLACE/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE — GETTY IMAGES

Support for leadership

and the police, but no

proposed solutions.

Chris Buckley reported from Bei-
jing, and Austin Ramzy from Hong
Kong. Elsie Chen contributed re-
search from Beijing.

A Chinese internet pioneer who
once won Communist Party
praise for using the Web to com-
bat social ills was sentenced on
Monday to 12 years in prison — a
further sign that the window for
independent social activism in
China has all but closed.
Huang Qi, 56, who spent nearly
20 years exposing local govern-
ment malfeasance and brutality,
and has already served eight
years in prison, was found guilty
by a court in southwestern China
of “deliberately disclosing state
secrets” and “illegally providing
state secrets to foreign entities,”
according to the court statement.
In addition to the prison term,
he was deprived of political rights
for four years and fined 20,
yuan, or nearly $3,000.
It was one of the longest sen-
tences given to a rights advocate
in recent years and followed calls
for clemency by human rights
groups, foreign governments and
the United Nations. In light of Mr.
Huang’s chronic bad health, in-
cluding high blood pressure as
well as kidney and heart prob-
lems, the nongovernmental orga-
nization Reporters Without Bor-
ders called the 12-year term
“equivalent to a death sentence.”
Mr. Huang was most recently
arrested in 2016 for “inciting sub-
version of state power,” which of-
ten carries a prison term of up to
10 years. The more serious charge
of divulging state secrets, and its
longer sentence, may have
stemmed from his unwillingness
to cooperate or confess, according

to Patrick Poon of Amnesty Inter-

national.

During a secret trial in January,

Mr. Huang reportedly denied all

wrongdoing and criticized the

government, according to one as-

sociate who asked to remain anon-

ymous for fear of repercussions.

“The authorities are using his

case to scare other human rights

defenders who also do similar

work,” Mr. Poon said. “Due to his

popular website and broad net-

work of volunteers and grass-

roots activists, his case is highly

sensitive.”

Mr. Huang is one of several ac-

tivists recently targeted for run-

ning human rights websites. One,

Zhen Jianghua, who ran the Hu-

man Rights Campaign in China,

was sentenced to two years last

December. Another, Liu Feiyue,

received five years in January for

running the Civil Rights and

Livelihood Watch.

Mr. Huang’s 64Tianwang web-

site was a ticker of social unrest.

He and his team of volunteers

fielded dozens of phone calls a day,

often from people appealing gov-

ernment decisions to expropriate

their land. Many were engaged in

street protests or presenting peti-

tions to government agencies, and

Mr. Huang’s team reported on

their complaints and actions.

When he started his site in 1999,

Mr. Huang and his former wife,

Zeng Li, helped reunite missing

children with their parents.

In a 1999 profile, the Communist

Party’s official newspaper, Peo-

ple’s Daily, focused on a man who

had disappeared after he followed

the banned spiritual practice

Falun Gong. Through the site’s ef-

forts, the man’s family found out

he had committed suicide.

While that article was in line

with government priorities, the

newspaper’s report also dis-

cussed other, more sensitive cases

that the site handled, including

the kidnapping of rural children,

which was rampant in the 1990s

because of the government’s sin-

gle-child policy.

The website’s name reflected its

agenda. “Tianwang” means

“heavenly web,” referring to the

idea of heaven as a synonym for

“justice.” The numbers 6 and 4 re-

ferred to the date of the site’s

founding: June 4, 1999. But that

date was also — not co-

incidentally, Mr. Huang said in lat-

er interviews — the 10th anniver-

sary of the Tiananmen Square

massacre, when pro-democracy

protesters were killed in Beijing.

Soon after the flattering profile

in People’s Daily, the site’s social

edge sharpened. Eventually, Mr.

Huang paid a heavy price.

In 2000, the site reported on mi-

grant laborers forced to undergo

unnecessary appendectomies and

pay exorbitant bills at state-run

hospitals. This also won govern-

ment praise.

But later that year, the site be-

gan reporting on the violent sup-

pression of Falun Gong, which in-

cluded the beating deaths of fol-

lowers in police custody. Shortly

after that report, Mr. Huang was

arrested and served five years in

prison for “inciting subversion of

state power.”

He said he spent a year in soli-

tary confinement, often sleeping

on a concrete floor, which dam-

aged his kidneys and led to regu-

lar dialysis.

Released in 2005, Mr. Huang re-

opened the site and won numer-

ous human rights awards for his

reporting of malfeasance, espe-

cially about the shoddy construc-

tion of schools that collapsed in

the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake.

Those reports led to another

prison stay, this time of three

years.

He restarted the site after his

release, remaining optimistic that

it was having an effect. In a 2013

interview, he said that the site was

read by the country’s security ap-

paratus, and that it helped publi-

cize citizen grievances, applying

pressure.

Mr. Huang also expressed opti-

mism that the new government of

Xi Jinping would be more tolerant

of his work because of its avowed

goals of promoting a transparent

legal system and cracking down

on corruption.

Mr. Huang said, however, that

the struggle could be prolonged

and costly. Comparing his efforts

to those of American revolutionar-

ies, he said the British agreed to

negotiate only after Washington

inflicted defeats on them.

“It’s like that with us now,” Mr.

Huang said. “It’s only after pres-

sure from the people that the gov-

ernment will change its opinions.”

China Sentences Internet Social Activist It Once Praised to 12 Years

By IAN JOHNSON

Huang Qi, shown in 2015 in his apartment, has spent nearly 20

years exposing local government malfeasance and brutality.

FRED DUFOUR/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE — GETTY IMAGES

RIO DE JANEIRO — A fight be-

tween rival gangs in a prison in

northern Brazil left at least 52 in-

mates dead, including at least 16

who were decapitated, according

to prison officials.

The clash in Pará State was the

latest deadly outbreak of violence

in Brazil’s overcrowded and riot-

prone prisons, which have seen an

increase in population in recent

years without investment to

match.

Powerful drug kingpins often

continue to run their criminal or-

ganizations from behind bars in

the understaffed detention facili-

ties. And while prison officials of-

ten segregate rival gangs, feuds

frequently erupt into violence. A

similar fight at a prison in neigh-

boring Amazonas State in May re-

sulted in the death of 55 inmates.

Officials said inmates at the Re-

gional Recovery Center in Altami-

ra, a city in southeast Pará, held

two prison guards hostage during

an altercation that began early

Monday morning.

A fire broke out during the fight.

When officials regained control of

the prison, they found that at least

16 inmates had been decapitated

and 36 had died from smoke inha-

lation.

“Today’s massacre in Altamira

is another grim reminder that the

federal and state governments

have lost control of Brazil’s prison

system,” said Robert Muggah, the

research director at Igarapé Insti-

tute, a think tank in Rio de Janeiro

that studies public safety. “Prison

violence is the predictable result

of a longstanding policy of mass

incarceration.”

The deaths resulted from a

clash between rival drug gangs

that have vied for control of the

prison, correction officials in Pará

said in a statement. Members of

one of the groups, Comando

Classe A, set fire to cells that were

occupied by members of Co-

mando Vermelho, or Red Com-

mand.

“The prisoners managed to

hold a couple of guards hostage,

but they were set free because this

was about score-settling between

two factions,” Jarbas Vasconcelos,

the superintendent of the Pará

prison system, said in the state-

ment.

Officials said they found rudi-

mentary knives in the area after

the fire was extinguished.

An inspection of the prison in

Altamira conducted this month by

the National Justice Council, a

government agency that oversees

prison facilities, found that the de-

tention center there was in “terri-

ble” shape. In a public report, the

agency found that the prison was

holding 343 inmates even though

it had the capacity to house only

163.

In a statement, the prison sys-

tem disputed that the facility was

overcrowded.

Holding more than 811,000 pris-

oners, Brazil has the world’s third-

largest inmate population, sur-

passed only by the United States

and China.

Despite longstanding problems

in the prison system, there is little

political will in Brazil for criminal

justice reforms that would reduce

the prison population and pri-

oritize rehabilitation over punish-

ment.

Justice Minister Sérgio Moro

said the federal government has

offered to transfer the leaders of

factions involved in the clash to

federal prisons to “isolate those

responsible for the barbarity.” He

said they ought to “remain held

forever in federal prisons.”

President Jair Bolsonaro and

federal lawmakers are seeking to

toughen sentences for drug

crimes, which is likely to make

prison overcrowding even worse.

“Unfortunately, most Brazilians

will shrug off this latest outbreak

of violence, numb as they are to

the ritual of bloodletting in the

country’s prisons,” said Mr. Mug-

gah, of the Igarapé Institute.

In fact, some Brazilians cele-

brated the deaths.

“The truth is no one is going to

miss them,” Gilson Cardoso Fahur,

a federal lawmaker and former

police officer, said in a video he

posted on Twitter. “They won’t

commit crimes again.”

52 Inmates

In Brazil

Die in Fights

And Fires

By ERNESTO LONDOÑO

Friction between rival

gangs erupts into

bloodshed at an

overcrowded prison.

Lis Moriconi contributed reporting

from Rio de Janeiro.

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