Red Versus Black

Mainland Chinese waved flags and sang the national anthem at IFC mall

Tensions are heating up between Hongkongers and mainlanders.

After seeing Hongkongers singing Glory to Hong Kong every night in shopping malls, mainlanders felt it was time to stand their ground.

Before 1pm today at IFC mall in Central, a group of mainlanders gathered in the atrium and displayed a few Chinese flags and sang the national anthem and other patriotic songs. They also chanted slogans like "Hong Kong is China's", "China-Hong Kong add oil", and "support Hong Kong police".

#NOW - Pro-Beijing protesters flies Chinese flags in IFC, Central. This followed an online to sing the national anthem at 1pm, to counter the "Glory to Hong Kong" singings.#antielab pic.twitter.com/I18fXMG2rK

— Lok. (@sumlokkei) September 12, 2019

 

This Chinese flash mob was soon after countered by smaller group of anti-government protesters who started singing Glory to Hong Kong. They also chanted "Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times", that has been a rallying call that is now going into four months of protests.

Anti-government protesters saying five demands must be met

After that a shouting match erupted between the two sides, which ended at around 1.30pm with pro-China supporters leaving the area.

What mainlanders don't understand is that most Hongkongers don't expect independence -- but that they want what was promised to them in the Basic Law, which is universal suffrage.

The Hong Kong political system is broken and it can only be fixed with direct elections for people to vote for the leader of their choosing, not a committee of 1,200 pro-Beijing people.

In any event, the protesters returned at 7pm this evening round at the same place with many more people, singing the unofficial anthem and chanting slogans for about an hour.

Round 2 at IFC, this time w/ hundreds gathered to sing the new anthem of #HK 願榮光歸香港. The acoustics are pretty stunning #antielab pic.twitter.com/in22WSzT4F

— Linda Lew 刘凌达 (@Lindadalew) September 12, 2019

 

This sense of unity is heartening, seeing clips of people all over the city singing and joining hands making human chains. This anti-government protest is not going to end anytime soon.

The ball is back in Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor's court.

What's your next move, Carrie?