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posted by martyb on Wednesday November 06 2019, @10:15AM   Printer-friendly
from the getting-roughed-up dept.

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

Chinese state media has urged authorities to take a "tougher line" against protesters in Hong Kong who vandalised state-run Xinhua news agency and other buildings at the weekend, saying the violence damaged the city's rule of law.

[...] In an editorial, state-backed China Daily newspaper criticised the "wanton" attacks by "naive" demonstrators, adding, "They are doomed to fail simply because their violence will encounter the full weight of the law."

Police fired tear gas at black-clad protesters on Saturday and Sunday in some of the worst violence in the Asian financial hub in weeks, with metro stations set ablaze and buildings vandalised.

Violence also erupted on Sunday after a man with a knife attacked several people and bit off part of the ear of a pro-democracy politician. Two of the victims are reportedly in critical condition, according to reports.

The past five months of anti-government protests in the former British colony represent the biggest popular challenge to President Xi Jinping's government since he took over China's leadership in late 2012.

Protesters are angry at China's perceived meddling with Hong Kong's freedoms, including its legal system, since the Asian financial hub returned to Chinese rule in 1997. China denies the accusation.

The widely-read Global Times tabloid on Sunday condemned the protesters' actions targeting Xinhua and called for action by Hong Kong's enforcement agencies.

"Due to the symbolic image of Xinhua, the vandalizing of its branch is not only a provocation to the rule of law in Hong Kong, but also to the central government and the Chinese mainland, which is the rioters' main purpose," it said.

On Friday, after a meeting of China's top leadership, a senior Chinese official said it would not tolerate separatism or threats to national security in Hong Kong and would "perfect" the way it appointed the city's leader.


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 07 2019, @08:23AM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 07 2019, @08:23AM (#917252)

    Why assume this would have any particular endgame? So far as I can tell there are only two things unique about this protest:

    1) The extensive 'foreign meddling.' Imagine if a nation such as Russia/China/etc was driving nonstop overt propaganda in support of the Occupy Protests, or if the Occupy protesters were actively waving Chinese/Russian flags and meeting with high level Chinese/Russian diplomats. This protest is pretty unique in that any notion of national impartiality has been thrown out the window by both the protesters, host nations, and foreign nations.

    2) The scale. This is a huge factor at first, but not once you consider the geography of the protest. Hong Kong is tiny. If it was a circle it'd have a side-to-side diameter of about 20 miles. The population density in the main district of the region is over 100,000 per square mile. Many people support various protests, such as the Occupy ones, but are unable to participate due to geography. In Hong Kong this isn't a problem. It also helps reduce attrition. Part of the way we cracked down on Occupy was getting them where they sleep. In Hong Kong a protester can come from the entire opposite side of the region, protest, and easily make it back to sleep in his comfy bed at home. For that matter they can even go take a bath room break at home, grab some munchies, and then and get back to protesting. So the scale is going to be more a reflection of geography than any particularly unique appeal. Protesting is extremely convenient.

    As for the outcome, it seems to me that China has learned from America in regards to how to handle protests. Consider our response to the Civil Rights protests as opposed to our response to the Occupy Wallstreet protests. The latter very much had the potential to transform into the former, but we effectively snuffed it out with more subterfuge and less violence. I think China has certainly learned from this lesson and is responding similarly. Similarly, with each act of violence and destruction the protesters lose ever more support. Should China choose to act, it will be only when they have near ubiquitous support from Hong Kong's residents.

    Right now there are also ongoing major protests in Spain, France, Ecuador and many other places. However, we mostly don't hear about them because they don't hit the #1 tickbox mentioned up above. For the most part they're all going to end the same way. Over time, they lose gas and eventually run out entirely. The civil rights protests went on for 14 years, through administrations of both major parties, before achieving anything real. We don't have that sort of focus anymore, and I think that's because the things we fight against are not of the same sort. Real and overt state-enforced skin-color based discrimination is a bit more unifying and motivating than protesting against an extradition treaty.

  • (Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday November 07 2019, @01:58PM

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Thursday November 07 2019, @01:58PM (#917310) Journal

    Imagine if a nation such as Russia/China/etc was driving nonstop overt propaganda in support of the Occupy Protests, or if the Occupy protesters were actively waving Chinese/Russian flags and meeting with high level Chinese/Russian diplomats.

    Much of that did happen. So what?

    As for the outcome, it seems to me that China has learned from America in regards to how to handle protests. Consider our response to the Civil Rights protests as opposed to our response to the Occupy Wallstreet protests. The latter very much had the potential to transform into the former, but we effectively snuffed it out with more subterfuge and less violence. I think China has certainly learned from this lesson and is responding similarly. Similarly, with each act of violence and destruction the protesters lose ever more support. Should China choose to act, it will be only when they have near ubiquitous support from Hong Kong's residents.

    The Occupy Wall Street protests were politically driven. Once the political goals were attained, the financial support for the protests went away.

    Right now there are also ongoing major protests in Spain, France, Ecuador and many other places. However, we mostly don't hear about them because they don't hit the #1 tickbox mentioned up above.

    And they are likely to be addressed or ignored depending on whether the general public supports the protests.

    I know it's a shame that your government thugs are under a microscope while others aren't. It's not fair, but you can always fix that by addressing the causes of the protests. It's not going to be the presence of foreign cooties, but injustice that brings that many people out into the streets.