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At the starting line for today’s march. According to the organisers, the Civil Human Rights Front, the lawn at Victoria Park is almost completely full now, meaning we could be out of the gates earlier than the expected 1500 start.
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The march isn’t even here yet—these are just people waiting to join the march along the route.
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Tens of thousands of people are coursing through the heart of Causeway Bay. At the tail end of the march, Victoria Park is still full of protesters waiting to file out and join the march.
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Police have just rescinded permission for today’s march and ordered everyone to disperse. This is the scene in Wan Chai with many children and families. Victoria Park is still 1/3 full of people starting the march. They’re now all guilty of taking part in an “illegal assembly.”
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Tear gas just fired on Morrison Hill Road after two Molotov cocktails were thrown in front of advancing riot police.
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The water canon vehicle is running a course through Causeway Bay, unleashing bursts of pepper spray-infused water where crowds stood (before the canon advanced) on Hennessy and Jardine. As usual, journalists and medics appear to be the only ones hit.
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Targeting violent radicals is one way to make arrests. Another is grabbing the little girl who couldn’t run fast enough or jump over the barrier.
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Becoming a broken record here but once again: the HKPF’s own guidelines say pepper spray is only for use against “physical action [that] might cause injury to oneself or others." There can be no justification for this. Will this officer ever face discipline? Can he even be ID’d? twitter.com/studioincendo/…
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Police say they arrested over 400 people in Causeway Bay today, including around 70 here on Hennessy Road, lined up against the wall in rows awaiting processing. Few look like hardened frontliners. This rooftop is the closest media can get now to record the scene.
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The group on the left was led away first. Most looked like regular shoppers in the wrong place at the wrong time, and weren’t cuffed or forced to kneel. The group on the right, all on the ground and cuffed, are still there. This crowd is mostly young and dressed in black.
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The arrestees on the ground are now being stood up and marched with their hands tied behind their backs toward a fleet of coaches that will transport them to a police station or detention centre. For about 4 hours now, all of Hennessy Road has been exclusively occupied by police.
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A: 100%.
Two thieves impersonating plainclothes police stole over $200k from a man last night during a “stop and search” just around the corner from Tuen Mun Police Station.
thestandnews.com/society/%E5%85… twitter.com/LeoAW/status/1…
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At one point last night I had to climb on top of a nearby building and film the reflections of detainees off Hysan Place because police blocked off Lee Garden Road. They could say they created the additional space for officers’ comfort and supporters would get behind it. Why lie? twitter.com/XinqiSu/status…
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How to solve months-long crisis of legitimacy that draws millions of angry citizens, HK-style:
1. Glue down/cement over paving stones so protesters can’t throw them
2. Remove rubbish bins so they can’t be used for roadblocks
3. Cage in every pedestrian walkway over a major road
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After all the ink spilled in the West about the unstoppable “march of authoritarianism” worldwide maybe we ought to be writing more about how the people of HK and Taiwan stood their ground and pushed right back this year.
And maybe the rest of the world ought to be behind them.
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Over 8 million votes cast for President Tsai Ing-wen.
This is the biggest election landslide since Taiwan’s first presidential election in 1996.
#TaiwanElection
#Taiwan2020
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In her victory speech, incumbent President Tsai Ing-wen says the historic #TaiwanElection turnout shows “how much we treasure democracy and our country: the Republic of China Taiwan.” The name she used—「中華民國台灣」—is a subtle but significant shift in nomenclature.
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Behold the racing outfits on display at today’s #HKstreetathon, one of the first road running competitions since the outbreak of the city’s pro-democracy protest movement not to have been cancelled.
Photos courtesy of Stands News and AM730.
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Watching today’s protests from Taiwan I’m shocked with how much I had, unconsciously, become desensitised over the months and accepted all this as normal. Sometimes it takes going to a functioning society with a legitimate government to remember that none of this is normal or OK. twitter.com/Reuters/status…
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HKU Prof Yuen Kwok-yung, who led the discovery of the SARS #coronavirus in 2003, says the coming days are our “last window of opportunity” to contain the #WuhanOutbreak, which has hit an attack rate of 83%, and calls on everyone in HK to wear face masks.
today.line.me/HK/article/L99…
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Guangdong province is requiring everyone wear a face mask in public or face fines, while the city of Shantou has closed its borders. HK officials are still refusing to wear masks or countenance a border closure as advocated by public health professionals.
hk01.com/article/426695
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This wouldn’t be a bad idea if the border were closed, so anyone already in HK who exhibits #nCoV2019 symptoms is not deterred from seeking treatment due to the potential cost and continues to infect others.
But as long as that’s not the case, it provides a perverse incentive. twitter.com/rthk_enews/sta…
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Notably, however, she made it clear that she hadn’t tightened restrictions herself—she had succeeded in requesting that Beijing temporarily cease using the permits. HKers are pointing to this as further proof they no longer control their own borders as promised in the Basic Law.
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The Hong Kong-mainland border crossings (marked 封) that will be closed from tomorrow to contain #nCoV2019 versus the far busier ones that will stay open. The entry points that will be closed account for only about 8% of arrivals from the mainland. Low-hanging fruit, to be sure.
Managing Editor @cnmediaproject 中國傳媒研究計劃主編