Hong Kong
CNN
—
Carrying numbered lanyards, a small group of 80 demonstrators took half in Hong Kong’s first licensed protest in three years on Sunday – a fastidiously choreographed occasion that campaigners say provides a chilling perception into the way forward for protest within the metropolis.
Numbers have been capped at 100, and in the course of the hour-long occasion, organizers repeatedly informed journalists to avoid them following police warnings that the presence of the press might end result within the march being canceled.
The protest was a far cry from mass demonstrations of only a few years in the past when tons of of hundreds of Hong Kongers took half in typically violent clashes with police over proposed safety regulation they noticed as giving Beijing tighter management of the town.
Sunday’s protesters weren’t calling for democracy however the scrapping of a neighborhood reclamation mission in Tseung Kwan O they are saying will enhance air pollution of their middle-class neighborhood – but strict situations have been utilized.
Cyrus Chan, one of many organizers from Concern Group For Tseung Kwan O Individuals’s Livelihood, mentioned police had screened the protest’s publicity materials, and informed organizers to advise contributors in opposition to dressing in yellow and black – colours related to the town’s pro-democracy motion and mass protests in 2019.
“There can’t be any messages deemed politically delicate, seditious and delicate colours,” Chan recalled being informed.
A Hong Kong Police spokesman mentioned the preparations have been made primarily based on their threat assessments of the organizers’ “intention, nature, variety of contributors, previous expertise and newest circumstances.”
Figo Chan, former convenor of the now-disbanded Civil Human Rights Entrance group, which as soon as introduced enormous crowds of democracy supporters onto Hong Kong’s streets, says Sunday’s occasion reveals how tough it might be for activists to make their views identified within the metropolis.
“That is the brand new period with Hong Kong traits,” Chan described, borrowing the usage of the time period by the Chinese language Communist Occasion to first describe its socialist-capitalist philosophy that has since been expanded to its “democracy with Chinese language traits.”
“I consider it’d be very laborious to carry a protest sooner or later,” mentioned Chan.
“I need recent air. No reclamation work,” the gang shouted as they marched a brief distance from a prepare station to Tseung Kwan O Waterfront Park, close to the location of the proposed mission that features the development of a concrete plant and waste station.
Round 40 police – about half the variety of protesters – have been deployed to the occasion make sure that the foundations have been adopted.
Winnie Chiu, who held the quantity tag 10, steered clear from politics in the course of the protest. “This isn’t a political demand. That is about fundamental each day life and our well being,” mentioned the trainer in her 50s.
It was a small occasion however extremely vital for campaigners in a metropolis the place protests have largely fallen silent.
The final time Hong Kongers got here onto the streets in huge numbers was in 2019 and 2020, when protests in opposition to an extradition regulation spiraled into broader requires democracy.
For a lot of, the extradition regulation represented a tightening of China’s management over the semi-autonomous metropolis, whose governance below a coverage of “one nation, two methods” had been agreed for 50 years after the 1997 handover from British to Chinese language rule.
Because the variety of protests grew, the federal government’s place hardened and police responded with tear gasoline and rubber bullets.
The protests stopped after limits have been imposed on gatherings on account of Covid, and the introduction of the nationwide safety regulation by Beijing in June 2020, which threatened arrest for anybody suspected of “treason, secession, sedition (and) subversion.”
The Hong Kong police have additionally cited the pandemic as a motive over the previous three years to reject protest functions.
Earlier this month, the Hong Kong Ladies Staff’ Affiliation deliberate an illustration in help of Worldwide Ladies’s Day, however canceled it regardless of receiving police approval, giving no additional feedback.
After the nationwide safety regulation was imposed, many opposition figures chargeable for organizing the protests have been arrested with out bail, and lots of civil our bodies have been pressured to close down, together with Figo Chan’s Civil Human Rights Entrance.
The native activist mentioned he doesn’t regard Sunday’s Tseung Kwan O protest as a correct public meeting, assured below the town’s mini-constitution referred to as the Fundamental Legislation.
“There may be an imposed quota of 100, so it’s solely a protest by a small group, not the general public,” he mentioned.
Chan mentioned up to now police would ask his group for estimated numbers, however by imposing a quota, it defeated the aim of a protest, which must be open to everybody.
One other activist Raphael Wong, from League of Social Democrats, mentioned he believed the tight controls replicate the nervousness of the authorities.
“There is not going to be any loosening up till the Hong Kong and Chinese language officers are feeling much less tense concerning the scenario,” he mentioned.
Authorized scholar Michael Davis, who used to show human rights legal guidelines on the College of Hong Kong, referred to as the association “a humiliation,” stressing that the protesters on Sunday have been on no account constituting a menace to the federal government.
The worldwide fellow from the Woodrow Wilson Worldwide Heart for Students, a suppose tank in Washington DC, likened the scenario to that of Singapore the place protesters can solely handle crowds with no allow at “Speaker’s Nook,” making demonstrations very uncommon.
“These restrictions depart little or no room for a civil rights motion,” he mentioned.
Nevertheless, pro-Beijing lawmaker Regina Ip, who was the safety minister of the town between between 1998 and 2003, defended the police, saying the rights to protest is just not absolute. She cited the clashes in 2019 as a justification for stricter measures.
Requested if there’s room for the police to cut back their measures sooner or later, Ip mentioned they need to “assess the scenario relying on the circumstance on the time.”
Cyrus Chan, who organized Sunday’s march, mentioned he hoped the orderly show opened the door for different protests.
“I hope we’ve demonstrated to the Hong Kong and Chinese language governments, in addition to the native police pressure that the Hong Kong individuals can maintain protests in a rational and peaceable method with none restrictions,” he mentioned.
