Hong Kong is facing its worst crisis since it returned from British to
Chinese rule in 1997, the head of China’s Hong Kong and Macau Affairs office
said on Wednesday, as more protests were set to rock the Asian financial hub.
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| A Chinese official says Hong Kong is facing its biggest crisis since 1997 following recent protests. |
“Hong Kong’s crisis ... has continued
for 60 days, and is getting worse and worse,” Zhang Xiaoming, one of the most
senior Chinese officials overseeing Hong Kong affairs, said during a meeting in
the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen.
“Violent activities are intensifying
and the impact on society is spreading wider. It can be said that Hong Kong is
now facing the most severe situation since its handover,” he said.
Zhang was holding a forum that
included Hong Kong delegates to China’s parliament, the National People’s
Congress and China’s main consultative body, the CPPCC, to discuss the
political crisis in the territory. No opposition democratic figures or protest
representatives attended.
The protests, during which millions
of people have taken to the streets, began in opposition to an extradition law
that would have allowed suspects to be tried in mainland courts controlled by
the Communist Party.
The protests, fueled by many residents’
fears of eroding freedoms under the tightening Communist Party control, now
pose the biggest popular challenge to Chinese President Xi Jinping since he
took power in 2012.
Hong Kong lawyers dressed in black
are set to march in silence later on Wednesday to call on the government to
safeguard the independence of the city’s justice department.
Protesters also plan to surround Hong
Kong’s Revenue Tower on Wednesday. Police fired tear gas to disperse protesters
in Sham Shui Po, one of the city’s poorest districts, late on Tuesday.
The city’s lawyers fear the justice
department’s prosecutions of arrested protesters are taking on an increasingly
political slant after 44 protesters were charged with rioting, an offense that
carries a 10-year jail term.
A group of unidentified government
prosecutors published an open letter last week accusing Secretary of Justice
Teresa Cheng of putting politics above legal principles.
Hong Kong’s mini-constitution, known
as the Basic Law, states that the city’s Department of Justice “shall control
criminal prosecutions, free from any interference”.
Hong Kong was guaranteed freedoms not
granted in mainland China, including an independent judiciary, under a “one
country, two systems” formula when Britain handed it back to China in 1997.
However, many residents see the extradition bill as part of a relentless march
towards mainland control.
Protesters are demanding a complete
withdrawal of the bill, an independent inquiry into the crisis, an
investigation into what they say is excessive use of force by police, and for
Lam to step down.
The movement has garnered support
from broad swaths of society, with teachers, rights groups, financial industry
workers and even civil servants taking to the streets.
In China’s sharpest rebuke yet of the
protesters, the government warned them on Tuesday not to “play with fire” and
called on Hong Kong citizens to protect their homeland.
The Global Times, a Chinese tabloid
published by the Communist Party’s People’s Daily, showed a video on its
official Twitter feed of thousands of police officers taking part in an
anti-riot training drill in Shenzhen, which borders Hong Kong.
The video showed officers in helmets
and shields clashing with people in black shirts and yellow construction hats,
similar to the unofficial uniform of protesters in Hong Kong.
Police have arrested more than 500
people in the protests so far and fired nearly 2,000 rounds of tear gas.
Police again fired tear gas in Sham
Shui Po late on Tuesday.
Protesters have also demanded the
release of Keith Fong, a student union leader from Baptist University, who was
arrested on Tuesday night after being caught buying laser pointers by several
plain-clothes police.
Police said in a statement a man was
found in possession of offensive weapons. Protesters have often aimed pointers,
which are widely available in shops, at police during recent clashes. -
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