Hong Kongers take to streets again, triads attack Democrats
Yesterday nearly half a million people took to the streets. The protesters want the Territory government to renounce the notorious extradition law. At the end of the protest, some "bandits" attacked a group of democrats who were returning home: almost 50 wounded.
Hong Kong (AsiaNews) - The population of Hong Kong has once again taken to the streets to ask the government of the Territory to "reject once and for all" the infamous extradition law. The text would allow Beijing to transport people from the former British colony to China in a coercive manner.
For weeks the Democrats and the civilian population have taken to the streets to protest against the law. At the moment it has been withdrawn, and the chief executive Carrie Lam has cancelled it, called it "a mistake", but the fear is that it could possibly come back under another name.
Yesterday's protest, with almost half a million members, opens the sixth week of clashes and demonstrations. The tension rose towards the end of the march, when the police used tear gas to disperse the protesters. The riots broke out after a group of people dressed in black broke a police cordon and threw eggs at the liaison office with the Chinese government, tracing insults with spray cans.
Wang Zhimin, a representative of Mainland China in Hong Kong, said: "The clashes are an insult to all the Chinese people. These actions have seriously damaged Hong Kong's spirit of rule of law and affected the feelings of the whole Chinese people, including the seven million compatriots in Hong Kong ".
In the evening other episodes of violence broke out in a suburb along the Chinese border.
The attacks took place in the long Yuen subway station, miles away from the main protests, after groups of men in white shirts - according to witnesses members of the triads, the local mafia - attacked passengers with sticks and umbrellas. They targeted people dressed in black, the color worn by protesters: at least 45 people were injured.
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27/09/2019 13:18
