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Incredible scene from an hour ago as dozens of cornered protesters had to climb over the Hung Hom Bypass onto an adjacent walkway to escape police. Some even had to go around the side, atop a gap tens of meters high. Even during a legal march they’d rather risk death than arrest.
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I’m not sure which is more distressing: this scene, or the fact that so many commuters are just casually walking past.
The sight of masked police officers forcefully arresting schoolchildren has become the new normal in Hong Kong. twitter.com/hkfp/status/12…
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The turnout for today’s CHRF march is exactly what you’d expect for the first time they’ve been allowed to march since June. It’s not just Causeway/Hennessy Road: every side street from Causeway Bay through to Wan Chai is completely choked with crowds of people inching forward.
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I thought this campaign sounded horrifying and dystopian enough when I wrote about it in October. I underestimated the dark, self-destructive path Xi's China is walking.
Turns out they're not just taking the books off the shelves: they're burning them.
thestandnews.com/politics/%E7%9… twitter.com/rhokilpatrick/…
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HKers are gathering in Central tonight to mark half a year since the 12 June rally to stop the extradition bill passing in LegCo. It wasn’t the first protest or the largest, but it was the moment this stopped being just about the bill and the five demands began to be articulated.
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As “Glory to Hong Kong” brings the crowd to their feet, they seem to stand taller and shine brighter than the skyscrapers surrounding them.
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Everywhere I go in Taipei I signs of solidarity with Hong Kong: a shrine to Alex Chow Tzs-lok and the suicides that have occurred since 12June; a Lennon Wall on the billboard ad for DPP parliamentary candidate; local businesses showing their support for the protest movement.
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The flag of East Turkestan is flying in Central today at a rally to show solidarity with Uighurs persecuted in China.
The crowd of hundreds is quickly growing as speakers on stage call for the freeing of Nobel laureate Ilham Tohti and all political prisoners.
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The Uighur solidarity rally has turned into abject chaos after riot police arrived to rescue the Chinese flag outside City Hall, which was earlier lowered and left on the ground.
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This scene didn’t take place in a vacuum but came after a cascade of unfortunate decisions, in which discourtesy (not even desecration) toward an object was met with state violence against the perpetrators which begot forceful resistance then threatened lethal force in return. twitter.com/jeffreychngo/s…
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At today’s 4pm presser a police spokesman claimed this incident in Yuen Long’s Yoho Mall on Saturday occurred the man shoved refused to give way to the police.
Even minor cases like this—in which a simple apology would suffice—remind why the police will never police themselves.
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Protest-themed carols at the TST Star Ferry Pier. This riff on “Santa is Coming to Town” is titled “Article 23 is Coming to Town.”
“Christmas is here again and you have teargas to breathe, “ they sing.
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True to form, tear gas has been fired on Salisbury Road. Merry Christmas, Hong Kong.
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Unreal scene as riot police come in from all directions, using pepper spray to disperse people on TST’s iconic Avenue of Stars. A marine police launch bobs in the blackened water of Victoria Harbour while the Central skyline glitters in the distance.
What had this city become?
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Almost at the stroke of midnight, a raptor charge followed by tear gas grenades lobbed at the people assembled around a single arrested protester. It’s Christmas Day now.
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In Hong Kong crackdown, police repeatedly broke their own rules — and faced no consequences wapo.st/hong-kong-poli…
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We spent weeks translating leaked documents, scrutinising 100s of incidents of alleged police brutality, consulting experts, and offering frontline testimony for this comprehensive report.
Please read and share with anyone still wondering why HKers demand an independent inquiry. twitter.com/ShibaniMahtani…
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HK Police Force Procedures Manual Article 29-02 Use of Force Continuum states (post-10/1 revisions) that pepper spray may be used only when confronted with "Defensive Resistance”—i.e. "Physical action [that] might cause injury to oneself or others."
More: washingtonpost.com/graphics/2019/… twitter.com/tomgrundy/stat…
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According to Apple Daily and Golden live streamers, there are “over a hundred” undercover police dressed as protesters at Kowloon Bay’s Telford Plaza shopping mall right now.
That’s pushing four times the number of actual protesters in Landmark North, Sheung Shui this afternoon.
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A trend we’ve been observing lately is that these “shopping” protests have turned violent not when protesters begin vandalising pro-governments businesses (as claimed) but when clashes are sparked by the provocative presence of so many undercover cops—which might be the point.
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The arrestee appears to be engaging in “defensive resistance,” justifying the use of pepper spray, hard empty hand techniques and takedowns.
But internal training documents leaked to @washingtonpost list “do not strike the head, neck or back” as the 1st principle of baton use. twitter.com/danielchsuen/s…
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Turnout for the “Days and Nights” rally in Central isn’t stellar at this point—unsurprising in this weather—but this centrepiece banner chronicling the city’s six months of protest is inspiring some impressive and moving contributions from the attendeees.
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As the last human chain of the year ends, Nathan Road is occupied by riot police and raptors in Mong Kok. With just two hours until midnight, those of you calling this the “2019 protests/unrest” are going to have to think fast.
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For a while the unimog got trapped by a cling film barrier put up by protesters.
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And right on cue, the first tear gas of 2020.
Managing Editor @cnmediaproject 中國傳媒研究計劃主編