HONG KONG: HongKong protesters clashed with police yesterday in a town near the boundary withmainland China where thousands rallied against the presence of Chinese traders,seizing on another grievance following major unrest over an extradition bill.The demonstration in the Hong Kong territorial town of Sheung Shui, not farfrom the Chinese city of Shenzhen, began peacefully but devolved intoskirmishes and shouting. Protesters threw umbrellas and hardhats at police, whoretaliated by swinging batons and firing pepper spray. Later in the day HongKong police urged protesters to refrain from violence and leave the area.
The protest wasthe latest in a series that have roiled the former British colony for more thana month, giving rise to its worst political crisis since its 1997 handover toChina. Sometimes violent street protests have drawn in millions of people, withhundreds even storming the legislature on July 1 to oppose a now-suspendedextradition bill that would have allowed criminal suspects in Hong Kong to besent to China to face trial in courts under ruling Communist Party control.
Critics see thebill as a threat to Hong Kong's rule of law. Chief Executive Carrie Lam thisweek said the bill was "dead" after having suspended it last month,but opponents vow to settle for nothing short of its formal withdrawal.Protests against the bill had largely taken place in Hong Kong's main businessdistrict, but demonstrators have recently begun to look elsewhere to widensupport by taking up narrower, more domestic issues.
In Sheung Shui,protesters rallied to oppose small-time Chinese traders who make short tripsinto the territory to buy goods that they then haul back to China to sell. Thedemonstrators chanted demands in Mandarin, China's official language, for theChinese traders to go home. Many street-level shops were shuttered during themarch.
The traders havelong been a source of anger among those in Hong Kong who say they have fuelledinflation, driven up property prices, dodged taxes and diluted Sheung Shui'sidentity. "Our lovely town has become chaos," said Ryan Lai, 50, aresident of Sheung Shui, where so-called "parallel traders" buy bulkquantities of duty-free goods to be carried into mainland China and sold.
"We don'twant to stop travel and buying, but please, just make it orderly and legal. Theextradition bill was the tipping point for us to come out. We want Sheung Shuiback." When Britain returned Hong Kong to China 22 years ago, ChineseCommunist leaders promised the city a high degree of autonomy for 50 years. Butmany say China has progressively tightened its grip, putting Hong Kong'sfreedoms under threat through a range of measures such as the extradition bill.
Democracy deficit
Hong Kong's lackof full democracy was behind the recent unrest, said Jimmy Sham of the CivilHuman Rights Front, which organized protests against the extradition bill."The government, Carrie Lam, some legislators in functional constituenciesare not elected by the people, so there are many escalating actions indifferent districts to reflect different social issues," he said. "Ifpolitical problems are not solved, social well-being issues will continue toemerge endlessly."
One protestersaid yesterday's scuffles started when demonstrators charged the police afterthe latter came to the assistance of mainland traders who had assaulteddemonstrators. "Some people were attacked and got injured in a stampede. Itried to save some girls so I was also attacked by pepper spray by police. NowI feel so bad. The cops are dogs," said the man, who would only give thename Ragnar. Protesters ripped up median barriers and fences to set uproadblocks and defenses.
A young man wastreated for a bloody head wound meters from where surrounded police werehitting activists armed with umbrellas. A baton charge by police in riot gearcleared the street minutes later to free trapped officers. "We have noweapons and we were peaceful. When we saw them taking photos of us in the crowdwe had to react," said another protester, surnamed Chan, who declined togive his full name. "We are all scared now. How can they hit us withbatons?" he said, staring at a pool of blood where one of his peers wastreated.
Last week nearly2,000 people marched in the Tuen Mun residential district to protest againstwhat they saw as the nuisance of brash singing and dancing to Mandarin popsongs by middle-aged mainland women. On Sunday, tens of thousands marched inone of Kowloon's most popular tourist shopping areas, trying to persuademainland Chinese tourists to back opposition to the extradition bill.
"We want toraise awareness in Washington that the United States has to do more now to helpHong Kong become fully democratic," said a resident of the nearby town ofFanling, who was one of five people in yesterday's crowd carrying US flags."They are the most important power left that can stand up to China,"added the 30-year-old man, who gave his name only as David. Anti-extraditionprotesters plan another demonstration on Sunday in the town of Sha Tin, in theso-called New Territories between Hong Kong island and the border with China. -Reuters