Tibetans hold protest in solidarity with Hong Kong in New Delhi

Hong Kong police round up activists as major rally called off

Hong Kong protesters expected to regroup despite police ban

Late at night, though, video from Hong Kong broadcaster TVB showed police using batons while on the platform of Prince Edward subway station and swinging batons at passengers who backed into one end of a train auto behind umbrellas. After an appeal to hold the rally was rejected, Bonnie Leung of the avowedly peaceful CHRF said "no option but to cancel the march tomorrow". But when, or will, they intervene? Man-kei Tam, director of Amnesty International Hong Kong, called the latest arrests and the ban on Saturday's rally "scare tactics straight out of Beijing's playbook". The latter also want to make their voices heard.

On Hennessy Road, where many protesters had gathered, police fired multiple rounds of tear gas and sponge grenades. "I feel it's my duty to fight for democracy".

"By the above token, HKISPA would like to warn that, imposing any insensible restrictions on the open Internet would only result in more restrictions, as the original restrictions wouldn't be effective, and ultimately the result is putting Hong Kong's Internet behind a big firewall".

A video of the armed police's exercise to subdue protesters has repeatedly been released through Communist Party affiliated media this month, apparently to put pressure on Hong Kong protesters. "If they still use violence, police have to take proportional action to stop the violence".

Every weekend, hundreds of thousands of people take to the streets to demand - among other things - the withdrawal of an extradition law to mainland China and the implementation of universal suffrage.

HONG KONG-Hong Kong police fired tear gas and water cannons on August 31 as pro-democracy protesters threw petrol bombs in the latest clashes that have plunged the city into its worst political crisis in decades.

The protests have expanded into a wider pro-democracy push and a rejection of attempts by Beijing to curtail the freedoms of the semi-autonomous territory.

An event to mark five years since Beijing ruled out fully democratic elections was banned in Hong Kong, a special administrative region of China.

On Saturday, dozens of police vans were deployed around China's representative office where the planned march was set to end.

Tourism officials at Hong Kong airport advised tourists to stay in their hotels on Saturday afternoon if they were on Hong Kong island.

The Chinese statement about rotating troops a year ago said the number of soldiers in Hong Kong "was maintained with no change".

Lam Cheuk-ting, a lawmaker from the Hong Kong Democratic Party, criticized the police for creating panic by employing force indiscriminately in such narrow and enclosed places as the trains. Asked on Friday if he wanted negative interest rates, he said no.

However, in a blow to those efforts, LIHKG, the Reddit-like forum used by protesters to communicate, reported via Twitter that its app had suffered the "largest attack it has ever seen". Earlier, they shot blue-coloured water from water cannon. At least five high-profile activists and three lawmakers were arrested on Friday in a sweep aimed at defanging Saturday's rally.

Wong said it was "completely ridiculous" for police to target leaders from a previous social movement to frame them as leaders of the extradition bill protests.

China's role in directing the way Hong Kong manages the protests was widely presumed, supported by stern statements in-country media concerning the nation's sovereignty and protesters'"revolutionary" goals.

Anti-extradition bill protesters use trolleys to stop passengers from entering the security gates during a mass demonstration after a woman was shot in the eye, at the Hong Kong worldwide airport, in Hong Kong August 13, 2019.

"Hopefully the judges will do a better job of upholding the rule of law by staying apolitical this time", the editorial said. Opposition to the extradition bill is now suspended but not permanently withdrawn and has brought much of Hong Kong to the streets.

Wong has urged the United States to change its designation of Hong Kong, impacting on trading relations, in light of the protests.

This year's protesters have described themselves as leaderless, and say they organise as a community through online platforms where ideas are voted up or down. They alternated between singing hymns and chanting the slogans of the pro-democracy movement.

Police erected water-filled plastic barriers around key government buildings, and two water cannons, used briefly for the first time last weekend, were at the ready near the Liaison Office, still daubed with graffiti from an earlier protest.

Latest News