Hong Kong
CNN
—
Sporting numbered lanyards, a small group of 80 demonstrators took half in Hong Kong’s first approved protest in three years on Sunday – a fastidiously choreographed occasion that campaigners say provides a chilling perception into the way forward for protest within the metropolis.
Numbers had been capped at 100, and throughout the hour-long occasion, organizers repeatedly informed journalists to keep away from them following police warnings that the presence of the press may outcome within the march being canceled.
The protest was a far cry from mass democracy demonstrations of only a few years in the past when a whole bunch of 1000’s of Hong Kongers rallied towards what they noticed as Beijing tightening its management over the town, some clashing with police.
Sunday’s protesters weren’t calling for democracy however the scrapping of an area reclamation challenge in Tseung Kwan O they are saying will enhance air pollution of their middle-class neighborhood – but strict situations had been utilized.
Cyrus Chan, one of many organizers from Concern Group For Tseung Kwan O Individuals’s Livelihood, mentioned police had screened the protest’s publicity materials, and informed organizers to advise members towards dressing in yellow and black – colours related to the town’s pro-democracy motion and mass protests in 2019.
“There can’t be any messages deemed politically delicate, seditious and delicate colours,” Chan recalled being informed.
A Hong Kong Police spokesman mentioned the preparations had been made based mostly on their threat assessments of the organizers’ “intention, nature, variety of members, previous expertise and newest circumstances.”
Figo Chan, former convenor of the now-disbanded Civil Human Rights Entrance group, which as soon as introduced large crowds of democracy supporters onto Hong Kong’s streets, mentioned Sunday’s occasion reveals how troublesome it might be for activists to make their views recognized within the metropolis.
“That is the brand new period with Hong Kong traits,” Chan described, borrowing the usage of the time period by the Chinese language Communist Get together to first describe its socialist-capitalist philosophy that has since been expanded to its “democracy with Chinese language traits.”
“I consider it’d be very laborious to carry a protest sooner or later,” mentioned Chan.
“I would like contemporary air. No reclamation work,” the gang shouted as they marched a brief distance from a practice station to Tseung Kwan O Waterfront Park, close to the location of the proposed challenge that features the development of a concrete plant and waste station.
Round 40 police – about half the variety of protesters – had been deployed to the occasion ensure the principles had been adopted.
Winnie Chiu, who held the quantity tag 10, steered clear from politics throughout the protest. “This isn’t a political demand. That is about primary every day life and our well being,” mentioned the instructor in her 50s.
It was a small occasion however extremely important for campaigners in a metropolis the place protests have largely fallen silent.
The final time Hong Kongers got here onto the streets in huge numbers was in 2019 and 2020, when protests towards an extradition regulation spiraled into broader requires democracy.
For a lot of, the extradition regulation represented a tightening of China’s management over the semi-autonomous metropolis, whose governance below a coverage of “one nation, two methods” had been agreed for 50 years after the 1997 handover from British to Chinese language rule.
Because the variety of protests grew, the federal government’s place hardened and police responded with tear gasoline and rubber bullets.
The protests stopped after limits had been imposed on gatherings because of Covid, and the introduction of the nationwide safety regulation by Beijing in June 2020, which threatened arrest for anybody suspected of “secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with overseas forces.”
The Hong Kong police have additionally cited the pandemic as a motive over the previous three years to reject protest functions.
Earlier this month, the Hong Kong Ladies Staff’ Affiliation deliberate an illustration in assist of Worldwide Ladies’s Day, however canceled it regardless of receiving police approval, giving no additional feedback.
After the nationwide safety regulation was imposed, many opposition figures answerable for organizing the protests had been arrested with out bail, and plenty of civil our bodies had been compelled to close down, together with Figo Chan’s Civil Human Rights Entrance.
The native activist mentioned he doesn’t regard Sunday’s Tseung Kwan O protest as a correct public meeting, assured below the town’s mini-constitution known as the Primary Legislation.
“There’s an imposed quota of 100, so it’s solely a protest by a small group, not the general public,” he mentioned.
Chan mentioned previously police would ask his group for estimated numbers, however by imposing a quota, it defeated the aim of a protest, which ought to be open to everybody.
One other activist Raphael Wong, from League of Social Democrats, mentioned he believed the tight controls replicate the nervousness of the authorities.
“There is not going to be any loosening up till the Hong Kong and Chinese language officers are feeling much less tense concerning the state of affairs,” he mentioned.
Authorized scholar Michael Davis, who used to show human rights legal guidelines on the College of Hong Kong, known as the association “a humiliation,” stressing that the protesters on Sunday had been under no circumstances constituting a menace to the federal government.
The worldwide fellow from the Woodrow Wilson Worldwide Heart for Students, a assume tank in Washington DC, likened the state of affairs to that of Singapore the place protesters can solely deal with crowds with out a allow at “Speaker’s Nook,” making demonstrations very uncommon.
“These restrictions depart little or no room for a civil rights motion,” he mentioned.
Nonetheless, pro-Beijing lawmaker Regina Ip, who was the safety minister of the town between between 1998 and 2003, defended the police, saying the rights to protest just isn’t absolute. She cited the clashes in 2019 as a justification for stricter measures.
Requested if there’s room for the police to reduce their measures sooner or later, Ip mentioned they need to “assess the state of affairs relying on the circumstance on the time.”
Cyrus Chan, who organized Sunday’s march, mentioned he hoped the orderly show opened the door for different protests.
“I hope we now have demonstrated to the Hong Kong and Chinese language governments, in addition to the native police power that the Hong Kong individuals can maintain protests in a rational and peaceable method with none restrictions,” he mentioned.
CORRECTION: A earlier model of this story misstated that the 2019 protests had been against Hong Kong’s safety regulation. The safety regulation was imposed a yr later.
