MONDAY, AUGUST 5 , 2019. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ SU A
BY CASEY QUACKENBUSH
AND SHIBANI MAHTANIhong kong — A general strike in
Hong Kong on Monday paralyzed
transportation networks at rush
hour, forced the cancellation of
hundreds of flights, and shut
down scores of businesses and
restaurants after another chaotic
weekend of p rotests across s everal
parts o f the city.
The strike, along with demon-
strators who are increasingly us-
ing tactics to outsmart police, is
intensifying pressure on Hong
Kong’s government to acquiesce
to the pro-autonomy movement’s
demands for a full withdrawal of
an unpopular extradition bill, in-
vestigation o f police use o f force in
recent weeks and greater democ-
racy.
Protesters sent police on a
chase through the city Sunday
night, changing routes several
times and briefly shutting down
traffic in s everal neighborhoods.
“A l ot of radical a nd violent a cts
happened at multiple locations in
the territory,” police said in state-
ment Monday morning, elaborat-
ing that protesters h ad committed
arson a nd “hurled b ricks and hard
objects” at police stations.
Police had to respond to pro-
tests in at least eight neighbor-
hoods, as protesters changed
routes multiple times to stave off
arrests. Police used tear gas in
areas including Causeway Bay, a
neon-lit shopping hub, a scene
that is becoming common-
place e ven i n residential a nd h eav-
ily touristed areas in the major
financial center.
Police arrested 44 people for
offenses including unlawful as-
sembly and possession of offen-
sive weapons, they said Monday
morning.
Black-clad protesters chanted
“Monday! Strike!” as they flooded
into the busy shopping district to
occupy the city’s cross-harbor tun-
nel.
Te ns of thousands appeared to
heed their call Monday, as airline
pilots, crews, bus drivers, financial
planners and others declined to
show up to work. By 9 a.m., trans-
portation networks in the normal-
ly efficient financial hub were sus-
pended or delayed, including the
airport express train linking the
city center to the airport. Te rmi-
nals w ere chaotic a s more t han 200
flights into or out of Hong Kong
were d elayed.
The mass protests, some draw-
ing millions, began in early June
over a now-shelved extradition b ill
that would have allowed fugitives
in Hong Kong to be sent to main-
land China for trial. The proposal
is seen as a major threat to Hong
Kong’s independent judiciary sys-
tem, which is supposed to be pro-
tected by the “one country, two
systems” framework established
after the colony returned to Chi-
nese r ule in 1997.
As the Beijing-backed govern-
ment has refused to compromise
on any of the protesters’ demands,
demonstrations have evolved into
a broader movement against Chi-
nese interference and the erosion
of the territory’s civil l iberties. P ro-
tests have become a weekly, if not
daily, o ccurrence, with demonstra-
tions targeting the airport, shop-
ping malls, transportation sys-
tems and government buildings.
Sunday saw two main rallies:
the first in a residential area in
eastern Kowloon called Ts eung
Kwan O, the second in central ar-
eas of Hong Kong island. By using
a new guerrilla strategy, p rotesters
who were part of the second rally
sent police flying all over the city,
quickly disrupting and departing
busy areas to avoid confronta-
tions.
Protesters on Hong Kong island
diverted from the rally’s starting
point several miles w est, w here the
Chinese government’s liaison of-
fice and police building nearby
were barricaded in anticipation of
clashes. Two weekends ago, the
liaison office was the focus of rage
for protesters, who defaced the
building and the Chinese emblem.
“We are very angry,” said Kenji
Chen, a 39-year-old E nglish t each-
er at the park rally on Hong Kong
island. “Hong Kong people, we are
so frustrated. The government
should be of the people, for the
people, by the people. But what
the government is doing is to
please the Chinese government.
It’s n ot listening to the p eople.”
This weekend w as the ninth in a
row o f increasingly hectic and v io-
lent demonstrations. A police-approved march through major
shopping district Ts im Sha Ts ui o n
Saturday splintered into protests
around Kowloon, a peninsula op-
posite the city’s central business
di strict.
At one point, protesters briefly
occupied a cross-harbor tunnel
and spray-painted it with “revolu-
tion of our times” and “ideas are
bulletproof.” Protesters also re-
moved the Chinese flag from a
pole and flung it into t he harbor.
China’s liaison office expressed
its “strong indignation,” saying in
a statement that the move “fla-
grantly offended the d ignity o f the
country and the nation and tram-
pled on the bottom line of the ‘one
country, two s ystems.’”
Samuel Wong, a 23-year-old
protester, said he fears authorities
will “treat Hong Kongers just like
a normal Chinese city.”
“The biggest fear is, they cancel
the system, one country, two sys-
tems,” he said.
Calls have intensified for an
independent investigation into
the police, as protests regularly
end in exchanges of projectiles,
tear gas, rubber bullets and pep-
per spray. Police have come under
fire since a mob attack last month
left 45 people injured in a subway
station. Police, who arrived 39
minutes later, are accused of con-
doning the v iolence and c olluding
with the attackers. Police deny t he
claim.
An independent investigation
is one of the five main protest
demands, alongside calling for the
leader Carrie Lam to step down,
the removal of the term “rioters”
from the June 12 protest, amnesty
for all those arrested and the di-
rect election o f officials.
Authorities show no sign of ac-
quiescing t o any demands. China’s
top military official in Hong Kong
called the protests “absolutely in-
tolerable,” and video was released
of the People’s Liberation Army
conducting anti-riot drills in
Hong Kong.
In a rare news conference,
China’s top office for Hong Kong
affairs condemned protesters, re-
iterated its support for Lam and
the p olice, and c alled the return o f
law and order its “most pressing
priority.”
[email protected]Huge strike shuts down Hong Kong
BY ERIN CUNNINGHAMistanbul — Iran said it has
seized another foreign vessel sus-
pected of smuggling fuel in the
Persian Gulf, state media report-
ed Sunday, adding to growing
tensions over a spate of incidents
involving oil tankers in the re-
gion.
The naval forces of the Islamic
Revolutionary Guard Corps de-
tained the ship and seven crew
members in a “surprise opera-
tion” authorized by Iran’s judici-
ary, the organization said in a
statement. The seizure comes
amid Iranian efforts to “detect
and fight against organized
smuggling,” the statement con-
tinued.
The Revolutionary Guard did
not identify the ship or give the
nationalities of its crew members
but said that the vessel, which it
said was Iraqi, was carrying
roughly 185,000 gallons of smug-
gled diesel fuel.
It was the third ship seized by
the Revolutionary Guard in re-
cent weeks amid a simmering
standoff between Iran and the
West in the Persian Gulf.
The energy-rich region has be-
come a flash point for the wider
conflict between Iran and the
United States over the Trump
administration’s campaign to iso-
late Te hran. The United States,
which has withdrawn from a 2015
nuclear deal Iran struck with
world powers, has imposed harsh
sanctions on the Iranian econo-
my and says it wants to reduce
Iran’s oil exports to “zero.”
A Revolutionary Guard com-
mander, Gen. Ramazan Zirahi,
told reporters Sunday that the
vessel was seized near Farsi Is-
land, where his forces maintain a
naval base, in Iranian territorial
waters in the gulf, state television
reported.
He s aid the raid on the ship was
carried out Wednesday night fol-
lowing an intelligence-gathering
operation that established the
vessel’s involvement in smug-
gling fuel to Arab nations in the
gulf.
Those states are also major
energy exporters. But Iran’s
cheaper fuel, subsidized by the
government, could be sold to for-
eign buyers for a higher price on
the black market, analysts said.
Smuggling operations have in-
creased as a result of U.S. sanc-
tions.
Industry analysts say tankers
carrying Iranian crude have
masked their locations to defy
U.S. restrictions and forged docu-
ments to conceal the origin of
Iranian cargo.
Last month, authorities in Gi-
braltar seized an Iranian tanker
carrying 2.1 million barrels of
light crude oil, cargo they sus-
pected was on its way to the
Syrian refinery at Baniyas. Offi-
cials in the British territory said
the vessel was seized to enforce
compliance with EuropeanUnion sanctions, which prohibit
the sale of oil to Syria.
Iran says it is not subject to E.U.
sanctions and has called the
ship’s detention an “act of piracy.”
Revolutionary Guard com-
mandos last month captured the
British-flagged Stena Impero
near the Strait of Hormuz, which
connects the Persian Gulf with
the Gulf of Oman and is a key
waterway for global oil ship-
ments.
Iran said the tanker had violat-
ed international maritime law.
But the seizure followed an earli-
er attempt by Iran to block the
British Heritage tanker from tra-
versing the strait, the British gov-
ernment said. A Royal navy frig-
ate, the HMS Montrose, repelled
the Iranian vessels that ap-
proached the tanker.
The United States has urged its
allies to contribute to a maritime
security initiative in the Persian
Gulf to secure global oil ship-
ments, many of which link Arab
energy producers with energy
markets in Asia.
Also last month, Iran detained
the Panama-flagged Riah, which
it said was involved in fuel-smug-
gling operations.
The incidents follow a string of
attacks on petrochemical tankers
in and around the Strait of Hor-
muz since May, acts of sabotage
that the United States blamed on
Iran. Iranian officials have denied
involvement.
[email protected]Iran says it seized 3rd foreign tanker
CHAN LONG HEI/EPA-EFE/SHUTTERSTOCKProtesters used a new strategy Sunday, sending police all over the city to avoid confrontations and
mass arrests. Many chanted “Monday! Strike!” as they shut down tunnels and thoroughfares.
8/11/19.