My walk to work takes me along the harbour and up through Tamar Park, where today there are thousands, soon to be tens if not hundreds, of people gathered to protest the discussions of a bill that opens extradition to China.
Thousands of demonstrators have gathered in Hong Kong as the city braced for fresh protests and politicians prepared to debate extradition legislation critics fear would let China spirit its political critics across the border.
What are the HK protests about?
Even as I walked through scuffles were breaking out, the atmosphere is thick with emotion - everyone's wearing black and donning masks.. it's.. tense.
What are the wider fears about Beijing’s influence on Hong Kong?
Many in the protests on Sunday said they felt overwhelmed by a sense of helplessness in the face of mainland China’s increasing political, economic and cultural influence in Hong Kong. Hong Kong’s top political leader is not elected by ordinary voters but by a 1,200-strong election committee accountable to Beijing. Half of its legislature are chosen through indirect electoral systems that favour pro-Beijing figures.
Many Hong Kongers also cited the jailing of leaders and activists from the 2014 Occupy Central movement– a 79-day mass civil disobedience movement – as well as the disqualification of young localist lawmakers as signs of the erosion of civil freedoms.
Resentment towards China has been intensified by soaring property prices – with increasing numbers of mainland Chinese buying properties in the city – as well as the government’s “patriotic education” drive, and the large numbers of mainland tourists who flock to Hong Kong.
Many Hong Kongers are also concerned about China’s growing control over the city’s news media, as they increasingly self-censor and follow Beijing’s tacit orders.
Did you know that HK is technically the most visited city in the world.. Paris receives some 23M a year.. for HK..
In 2014, a record 60.8 million visitors came to the city. Last year, the total number of visitors was 58.4 million.
So..
Is it simply inevitable that HK becomes merely another city of China? Does the two systems one country policy work, or mean much anymore?
The crux of this is that more than 1M people came out at the weekend to oppose this bill, out of a population of just over 7M. In US terms that would be the equivalent of everyone who voted for Trump, some 60M.. imagine that..
Regardless of the bill it's clear people are opposed, and yet the legislation will likely go through. The HK government is citing a Taiwan murder case as the rationale yet the leader of Taiwan has said they will not accept any extradition based on this law. Beijing say they're not involved but they're certainly supporting it.
Mostly I hope it doesn't turn violent, though given the atmosphere of this morning I suspect it will.
Oddly enough I don't mind the actual bill, HK should have extradition laws, it's more the adamant stance of the government to absolutely ignore the people claiming 'they don't understand it'. It drops any pretence they represent HK beyond the fact they're only voted in by 1, 200 people out of the total population.
In a sense this stands at the crux of whether the world moves to greater suffrage or less.
What thinks ye all?
The West should stand up for the rule of law in Hong Kong
