Section:GDN 1N PaGe:21 Edition Date:190801 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 31/7/2019 20:02 cYanmaGentaYellowb
Thursday 1 August 2019 The Guardian •
Democratic debate 21
Sanders and Warren
hit back at centrists
Page 25New Zealand
Māori protests over
child removals
Page 27Protests outside Hong Kong court as
dozens face jail terms of up to 10 years
Emma Graham-Harrison
Laurel Chorin Hong KongA pilot , a nurse and several teenage
students were among 40 people who
appeared in a Hong Kong courtroom
yesterday facing up to 10 years in jail
on charges of rioting , following mass
protests that have convulsed the city
since June.
Anger at the potential heavy
sentences brought hundreds of dem-
onstrators to the courtroom doors in
support of the group inside, chanting
“revolution of our time” and “liberate
Hong Kong”.
Rights groups said the riot charges
and heavy-handed policing showed a
“fl agrant disregard” of city residents’
rights and appeared aimed mostly at
stifl ing dissent, as the authorities grap-
ple with the worst political crisis since
the handover from British rule in 1997.
The threat to bring charges of riot-
ing has been a source of anger since
the current protests began , but this is
the fi rst time it has been carried out.
“By using such vague charges
against pro-democracy protesters, the
Hong Kong authorities seem intent on
sending a chilling warning to anyoneconsidering taking part in future pro-
tests,” Amnesty International said.
Hong Kong law defi nes rioting as the
unlawful assembly of three or more
people, where any person “commits
a breach of the peace”.
The arrests were made during
protests at the weekend that turned
violent , with police using tear gas and
rubber bullets against demonstra-
tors, some of whom hurled umbrellas,
rocks, eggs and gas canisters back at
offi cers.
“While there was violence over
the weekend, the defi nitions of ille-
gal assembly and rioting under Hong
Kong law are so broad they fall far short
of international standards,” Amnesty
said. “It is highly questionable that
individuals facing these sweeping
charges would have a fair chance of
defending themselves at trial.”
In a sign of how broad-based sup-
port for the protests has been, the
people arrested ranged from a pilot
with the city’s fl ag carrier airline,
Cathay Pacifi c, to a chef, an electrician
and a construction worker, according
to local news reports. The youngest
is only 16 years old ; the oldest is 41.
Most were released on bail of
about HK$1000 (just over £100), witha curfew from midnight to 6am, and
many ordered to stay in Hong Kong.
Protests were originally spurred by
concerns over a now-shelved extra-
dition law that would have in eff ect
removed the legal fi rewall between
Hong Kong and China. But they have
expanded to cover police brutality
and wider questions about the future
of Hong Kong as an autonomous city
within an ever-more assertive China.
While the riot charges and the
prospect of long sentences may have
deterred some from protesting , for
others it has just hardened their
resolve.
“I’m not scared to protest. This
whole thing today is just making me
more angry,” said Gartner, a 21-year-
old activist outside the court who
declined to give his full name.
The arrests had already prompted
further unrest on Tuesday evening,
when hundreds of protesters gath-
ered outside police stations where
the group were being held. Riot police
deployed pepper spray and batons to
try to disperse the crowd.
Images of an offi cer pointing a shot-
gun at protesters near Kwai Chung
police station circulated rapidly, spur-
ring outrage. Police said the weapon
was loaded only with non-lethal bean
bags , and was being used because the
offi cer felt under threat.
In one video on social media, a
police offi cer was seen punching a
photographer, then wildly waving a
baton at a journalist, who had “ press”
emblazoned on a yellow vest.
Outside Tin Shui Wai railway sta-
tion in the early hours yesterday , a
private car drove by and let off fi re-
works towards the crowd, injuring
six. There were no immediate arrests
although police said they “strongly
condemned” the attack.
Adding to the sense of crisis in Hong
Kong as the position of the authorities
and protesters appeared to harden, a
senior Trump offi cial said that the
United States was monitoring an
apparent buildup of Chinese forces on
the border, Bloomberg news agency
reported.
Its exact nature was unclear, the
unnamed official said, but armed
police or soldiers appeared to be gath-
ering just outside Hong Kong territory.
China said on Monday, in a rare
direct intervention, that violent pro-
testers should be swiftly punished.
Despite peaceful protests drawing a
reported 2 million people, a govern-
ment offi cial blamed the unrest on a
“few radicals”.
“No civilised society or rule of law
society will tolerate rampant violence,”
added Yang Guang , a spokesman for
the offi ce that handles aff airs in Hong
Kong and Macau for Beijing. It was the
fi rst time the offi ce ha d given a press
conference since the 1997 handover
from colonial rule.
“In our view, the most dangerous
situation in Hong Kong is that vio-
lent crimes have not been eff ectively
stopped,” he said.▲ An offi cer
points a fi rearm
at crowds who
had gathered
outside Kwai
Chung police
station on
Tuesday Fireworks
are aimed at
protesters at Tin
Shui Wai station
early yesterday
PHOTOGRAPH: ISAAC
LAWRENCE/GETTY;
@HKDEMOCRATS Demonstrators brave strong wind
and heavy rain outside the Eastern
courthouse in Hong Kong yesterday
PHOTOGRAPH: VINCENT YU/APРЕЛИЗ ПОДГОТОВИЛА ГРУППА "What's News" VK.COM/WSNWS