Hong Kong's Police State

The police tried to preempt today's protest, but people came out anyway

Today would have been the right of over 3 million Hongkongers to vote in the Legislative Council elections, but that opportunity was taken away by Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, who claimed the coronavirus pandemic was the reason why the election could not be held.

Beijing had to do some political gymnastics to allow Legco to function for another year with the same lawmakers, and in the meantime the number of cases dropped from over 100 to single digits earlier this week.

The police threatened to arrest reporters on the scene too

So instead of being able to vote, people turned out in Kowloon to protest that as well as the implementation of the national security law, and some brought up the case of the 12 people who were caught fleeing to Taiwan and have not been heard from since.

Hong Kong police responded in force and so far 289 people were arrested for numerous offenses, including illegal assembly, disorderly conduct in a public place, unable to produce identity cards, assaulting police, and obstructing police.

There were about 30 journalists covering the incident, and police threatened them with arrest for taking part in illegal assembly. They cannot report on what is happening?

Most frightening was watching a clip of a 12-year-old girl terrified of the police and tries to run away from them, but then is taken down roughly by officers.

A 12yo girl scared, ran, and pushed down by riot police in Mong Kong via HKUST Radio News Reporting Team. @appledaily_hk interviewed her mum, said she only buying paint for schoolwork with her brother https://t.co/a5oUWQODLy #HongKongProtests pic.twitter.com/njtwZLs3ba

— Galileo Cheng (@galileocheng) September 6, 2020

 

The force later claimed they used "the minimum force necessary" to subdue her, and ticketed her for social distancing violations.

Her mother claimed the girl was out buying art supplies.

A 63-year-old woman surnamed Yim was at the protest, unhappy about the postponement of the elections.

At least 289 people were arrested to day for various offenses

"Why not let me vote? You let people do mass virus testing, but why not let people participate in an election?" she said, referring to the Beijing-sponsored universal testing scheme. "If you are postponing the elections for one month, that would still be acceptable. But that's not the case now. Why does it have to be so?"

Other young people said they came out to protest, concerned about defending freedom of speech.

Among the arrested was a bus driver from New World Bus Company, who, according to news reports, was honking his horn at police officers who blocked the road in Yau Ma Tei.

The force said it arrested the driver for "dangerous driving" and about an hour ago a statement was issued saying a group of New World Bus drivers will protest tomorrow about one of their colleagues being arrested by driving strictly to the rules.

Wonder how that will drive the point across, but perhaps this is their way of showing solidarity.

What does the parent company have to say about one of its employees being arrested?