The Observer
World 25.08.19 33Riot police have attacked protesters
with teargas and beat many with
batons in a new stand off in Hong
Kong. Tens of thousands took part in
an anti-government rally yesterday,
marking the 12th consecutive week
of protests in the city.
As the protesters reached a police
station, some built barricades with
bamboo rods and plastic traffi c bar-
riers and faced off with police.
About two hours later, hundreds
of officers charged the protesters,
throwing teargas and beating them
as they fl ed. At one point, objects on
the ground were on fire as police
chased people along the streets and
into nearby buildings. “Protesters are
simply not able to defend themselves.
Police are abusing their powers,” said
one eyewitness.
It was difficult for protesters to
leave because the nearest metro sta-
tion had closed, along with several
others on the line.
The latest clashes came after the
release of Simon Cheng , a staff mem-
ber at the British consulate, who had
been detained in mainland China for
more than two weeks.
“Simon has returned to Hong Kong.
Thanks to everyone for your sup-
port!” said an online message from
the Rescue Simon Cheng Facebook
page run by his family and friends.
It said Cheng and his family needed
“time and space” to rest and recover.
“Simon is released. Simon is safe,”
said Max Chung, organiser of a rally
last week to urge the British govern-
ment to step up efforts to free the
consulate worker.
Cheng, 28, a trade and investment
officer for Scottish Development
International, had travelled to
Shenzhen, a city that borders Hong
Kong, on the morning of 8 August.
He disappeared after sending
messages to his girlfriend as he was
about to cross back over the border at
about 10pm.
Police in Shenzhen said Cheng had
been released after 15 days of admin-dies later this year – and similar fi nan-
cial support is now available in more
than 20 cities across Germany and the
states of Baden-Württemberg, North-
Rhine Westphalia and Saarland. In
Freising, near Munich, people can
cash in an extra €500 premium if
they can prove that they are using
their new bike to replace a petrol- or
diesel-power vehicle.
In May, Berlin’s Neukölln dis-
trict unveiled the city’s fi rst cargo-
bike-only parking spot, and in the
Prenzlauer Berg area the senate has
just successfully completed a one-
year trial run for a “micro-depot”
which courier companies such as
DHL or UPS can use to deliver par-
cels using only cargo bikes instead
of vans.
While Germany still lags behind
Denmark and the Netherlands in
terms of per-capita use, the country is
now Europe’s largest market for cargo
bikes in overall numbers.
Next month’s annual Eurobike
trade fair, in Friedrichshafen from
4-7 September, will see the unveiling
of a dizzying array of new models not
just by Dutch market leaders Bakfi ets
and Urban Arrow, but also by growing
German newcomers, like the compact
and foldable Muli or Cologne-based
three-wheeler Chike.
When Volkswagen tried to muscle
in on the booming industry with the
launch of its own cargo bike at last
year’s fair, the carmaking giant’s offer
was met with scathing reviews by the
bike community.
The secret of the bike’s success
is also the same aspect that invites
criticism. Unlike the humble bicycle,
cargo bikes are increasingly statussymbols. “We fi nd sales patterns work
on the keeping-up-with-the-Joneses
principle”, said Philipp Runge, a sales
adviser at Ahoi Velo, a cargo bike spe-
cialist retailer in Hamburg. “People
tend to want to buy the same bike
their neighbour owns.”
Increasingly, Runge said, his cus-
tomers were happy to pay an extra
couple of thousand euros for limited-
edition models, such as Dutch man-
ufacturer Urban Arrow’s €7,000 bike
with a belt drive, automated gears and
brake lights. “Motor cars are becom-
ing an irrelevance for our customers.
Some of them are truly beginning to
hate cars.”
But as a symbol of the lifestyle
choices of environmentally conscious
metropolitans, some have already
begun using the cargo bike as the
perfect vehicle for Germany’s brew-
ing culture war.
In Saxony-Anhalt, rightwing popu-
list party Alternative für Deutschland
last month voted against a subsidy
programme for the vehicles, describ-
ing it as a “pure waste of taxpayers’
money”. To believe that 200 subsi-
dised cargo bikes could save the cli-
mate, said AfD politician Matthias
Büttner, was “crazy politics”.
“The image of cargo bikes as an
SUV for eco-warriors is off the mark,”
said Arne Behrensen, who runs a
pressure group called Cargobike.Jetzt,
which tries to make the vehicles more
acceptable across all layers of society.
“Whatever the size of your cargo bike,
it always involves downsizing com-
pared to a car.”
Behrensen urged Angela Merkel’s
government to wake up to the poten-
tial of two- and three-wheelers if it
took the challenge of transforming
its transport infrastructure seriously.
“A purchase premium of €2,000
per head for cargo bikes instead
of electric cars, that would have
been a start. If you look at what
Germany actually has done so far,
it’s absolute peanuts.”‘Motor cars are becoming an
irrelevance for our customers.
Some of them are truly
beginning to hate cars’
LEFT
A family cycling
in Berlin’s
Tiergarten.
Alamy
LEFT
Cargo bikes on
show at a trade
fair in Berlin.ABOVE
Tourists at the
Brandenburg
Gate are now
discovering a city
that is steering
towards greener
transport. Alamy
istrative detention and had “con-
fessed to his illegal acts”, but they did
not provide further details. In recent
years, many Chinese activists have
been forced to confess to alleged
crimes on state media.
Last week, a Chinese foreign min-
istry spokesman said Cheng had
violated China’s public security
administration punishment law. He
was later accused by state media of
visiting prostitutes, although friends
and family said they did not believe
this. They said earlier that “the truth
is in people’s hearts”.
The accusation is often used by
Chinese authorities to smear the rep-
utation of government critics.
Hong Kong remains tense after a
wave of protests that began over a
proposed extradition law and have
dominated the summer. Yesterday’s
rally – in Kowloon’s Kwun Tong dis-
trict – was sanctioned by the police,
but many demonstrators still covered
their faces with medical masks, bala-
clava-style scarves and dark glasses
covered with tin foil.
The theme of the march was to
oppose the government’s installation
of smart lamp-posts equipped with
sensors, closed-circuit cameras and
data networks. The government said
the lamp-posts would only collect
air quality, traffi c and weather data,
although many at the protests said
they had covered up out of privacy
concerns. “We feel unsafe, that’s why
we have to speak up,” said Harry Yip,
a school leaver, who said he wore a
hat, refl ective dark glasses and a black
scarf over his face to avoid govern-
ment surveillance.
“Oppose surveillance, save Hong
Kong!”, shouted some, while others
cried: “Free Hong Kong!”, “Reclaim
Hong Kong, revolution of our era!”
People also called on fellow pro-
testers to open their umbrellas to
shield their faces from surveil-
lance cameras. “Even though this is
a police-approved march, you just
never know what the police might do
later,” said Chris Lam, in full protec-
tive gear. After the rally, the street was
left eerily empty.
A message spray painted on the
road said: “Hopes are in the people,
transformation begins in struggles.”
The fear of surveillance comes
amid reports that many Hong Kong
residents have been interrogated
upon entering mainland China, taken
into rooms to have their messages
and photos on their phones and com-
puters checked.
More broadly, the city’s demon-
strations are aimed at pressuring
the Hong Kong government into
responding to protesters’ political
demands, including the complete
withdrawal of the now suspended
extradition bill – under which indi-
viduals can be sent to China for trial –
the setting up of an independent body
to investigate police violence, and the
free election of Hong Kong’s leaders
and legislature.Offi cers charge march
opposing ‘lamp-post
cameras’, hours after
release of UK diplomatHong Kong riot police
attack protesters with
teargas and batons
Verna Yu
Hong KongDemonstrators
campaign for
international
support for
their protests
on Friday night.
Photograph by
Vincent Yu/AP