Tensions Racheted up a Few Notches

People at Kwai Chung police station on news 44 people charged with rioting

This evening things are tense at Kwai Chung police station where 49 people are being detained for participating in clashes with police on Sunday. News came down a few hours ago that 44 of them will be charged with rioting tomorrow morning at Eastern Court. This is the first time this charge is being used, which could result in 10 years in jail.

Since the news broke, protesters gathered in front of the station, and when three of the 49 were released, there were huge cheers. But then a handful of riot police showed up -- not enough to be intimidating, as people started throwing objects at them and they had to retreat into the MTR station. There are reports pepper spray was used in the station.

Many came after work to voice their reaction to the news

The news of the charges for rioting do not bode well in trying de-escalate the situation. Tomorrow will surely be tense.

Meanwhile this morning I managed to get to work on time on the MTR because there were warnings that the public transit network would be affected. Already two other lines, like Tiu King Leng were affected, and some of my colleagues living in Kowloon East were unable to come in, or were stuck at North Point and walked all the way to Causeway Bay to the office.

Some passengers were annoyed and one or two got into fist fights, but many were supportive of the protesters. At North Point they shouted 光復香港，時代革命 "Reclaim Hong Kong, revolution of our times". 

Tensions flared inside MTR stations this morning

Alan Cheng Kwan-hing, MTR's general manager for special duties reported 123 incidents of passengers pressing the emergency buttons on carriages and platforms on the Kwun Tong, Tseung Kwan O, Island and Tsuen Wan lines to obstruct trains.

"We understand some people want to express their views, but we regret that they did so by disrupting train service. We ask them not to obstruct train services and affect other passengers using the MTR."

It wasn't until lunchtime that train services starting getting back to normal.  

Civil servants are applying to the police to have a rally on Friday evening at Chater Garden. It will be interesting to see how big the crowd is and if there will be a general strike next Monday.

Most commuters were not too bothered by the disruption

Things are moving so fast these days that I have been practically glued to Twitter to catch the latest. 

We are in the midst of a "new normal" that will not calm down anytime soon...

CARRIE ARE YOU SEEING THIS?