I remember some of us blockaded airports in the wake of Trump's anti-muslum ban. That was to prevent an immigrant from being removed from the arrivals lounge by police, however...
The PTU officer getting his revolver out has gone viral worldwide.
In the name of being honest
Is there anything that the movement could realistically do to sway Mainlanders to their side at this point? I've heard about activists handing out leaflets and distributing files on AirDrop around major transit points, but there's still a strong narrative (even among relatively progressive, globalised Mainlanders) that the Hong Kongers are xenophobic classist ingrates who brought this on themselves, and I wonder whether any kind of messaging could counter that.
Edited by eagleoftheninth on Aug 15th 2019 at 3:56:10 AM
Echoing hymn of my fellow passerine | Art blog (under construction)
Honestly, I don't think so. A lot of the protest is charged by an already serious divide between mainlanders and Hongkongers. Resentment has been boiling between both peoples ever since stuff like the milk powder scandal and its effects on Hong Kong.
Mainland tourists arrived in Hong Kong and behaved boorishly, as it was the first time many tourists had left China. Hongkongers responded to bad behavior by throwing suitcases and swearing a lot. The feud just got worse from there.
A lot of the older generation carry the memories of mainland refugees fleeing the Cultural Revolution and many becoming Hong Kong's most successful figures, despite being illegal immigrants. They don't like how most mainlanders are treated with scorn by the younger generation these days.
Meanwhile the younger generation have only seen bad behavior from mainlanders, plus rising prices in everything thanks to wealthy tourists spending huge amounts, leading to the rise of the right-wing localist groups that demand all "locusts" leave Hong Kong. Then there's many growing up as the mainland turns more authoritarian under Xi's regime. As far as they're concerned, the mainland Han are arrogant and selfish, and see Hong Kong as a shiny fruit to squeeze money out of.
Edited by TheWildWestPyro on Aug 15th 2019 at 5:00:10 AM
If reddit's to be believed (throwing my centavos down here), there are those who are trying to access VPN services abroad to know the lowdown in Hong Kong, especially those who're living in the border cities close (Guangdong, Shenzhen).
Those who can speak good English at least are aware of the freaking stereotypes made against them.
A fair amount of expat mainlanders are sympathetic, as they tend to be the type who are already distrustful enough of the government enough to consider living elsewhere worthwhile, and hence wouldn't have much ability to influence native viewpoints.
Edited by AlleyOop on Aug 15th 2019 at 11:18:57 AM
Oh, bother.
Mainland China tourists have gained a bit of infamy over the years, and not just in Hong Kong either.
Disgusted, but not surprised
Plenty of my European colleagues have nightmare stories to share about mainland tourists; it's not localized to any one section of the globe. It's a new generation of Eaglelanders.
"What's a pro-democracy movement? Can you make money off of it?"
In the name of being honest
To be honest, I can't imagine his "support" doing the movement any good.
Echoing hymn of my fellow passerine | Art blog (under construction)
In the name of being honest
Mr Fu Guohao, a reporter with Chinese state newspaper Global Times, was kicked and hit with umbrellas repeatedly by protesters on Tuesday night after refusing to show his press credentials, and was found with a T-shirt in his backpack featuring the slogan “I love HK police”.
Another man, who protesters believed was an undercover agent from mainland China, was earlier released from North Lantau Hospital, in Tung Chung. Protesters, who found him carrying wooden sticks, had bound his hands with cable-ties.
Mr Fu, who was wearing a white T-shirt and a face mask, spoke to media briefly before leaving Princess Margaret Hospital, in Kwai Chung, around midday.
“In Hong Kong, I complied with everything a citizen should do. I didn’t do anything unlawful or behave in a way that would stir up controversy,” he said. “I think I should not be treated violently.
“I did not suffer from any serious injuries, but I felt pain in my head and hands.”
When he was asked why he had not revealed he was a journalist when surrounded by protesters he said it was “for self-protection”.
He also denied asking protesters to hit him, although he was heard asking them to do so on a video.
Mr Fu got into a car and left as supporters shouted “real hero” and “we support you”.
People from various government-friendly groups arrived at the hospital to show their support, with some bringing bouquets of flowers and a fruit basket.
Around a dozen of them wore red T-shirts that carried the message, “I support Hong Kong police, you can hit me now”.
“Support Hong Kong police to enforce law,” chanted the group, which consisted mostly of middle-aged men and women.
There were also people holding placards that read “maintain the rule of law”, “against violence” and “penalise the assailants”.
A Facebook post said a group of people in red T-shirts had harassed health care staff at the hospital.
Mr Jiang Zaizhong, chairman of the Hong Kong Federation of Journalists, said he felt shocked and angry when watching television footage of the attack.
“Mr Fu Guohao is a mainland journalist,” he said. “He came to Hong Kong through legal channels to do reporting. He was doing proper news reporting, therefore his freedom to report and safety should be protected.”
He said protesters who surrounded Mr Fu had been involved in “illegal detention” and “cruel beating”, and his group had asked police to penalise those people according to the law.
Mr Stanley Ng Chau-pei, chairman of the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions, said a person should not be attacked, regardless of who they were.
“No one should be detained illegally, searched and attacked,” Mr Ng said. “These have contravened basic human rights.”
Hong Kong Tour Guides General Union chairman Wong Ka-ngai, who went to the hospital with other representatives from the travel sector, accused protesters of being involved in a “lynching”.
He said the travel sector had been seriously affected by the non-cooperation movement, and around 1,000 local tour guides had already stopped working.
Saw photos of the incident a short while back, but then I stumbled upon the articles, and I think that the slogan helps put the Mainlander response (and specifically Liu Yifei's statement, if you follow it) in context. There's a lot of outright fascist cheerleading over there, yeah, but the media environment also paints a picture of the protests dominated by mob violence. The coverage is incredibly skewed, but it did stoke fears of mob violence among Mainlanders while drawing attention away from the police's behaviour.
Edited by eagleoftheninth on Aug 16th 2019 at 8:39:57 AM
Echoing hymn of my fellow passerine | Art blog (under construction)
Global Times is an aggressively nationalistic propaganda rag, but it's still wrong to attack a journalist simply for being from an outlet you don't like. I do think the individuals who beat him up should be arrested.
Sadly, the whole incident will definitely now be used to condemn all protestors in HK as violent against their opponents and racist against mainlanders.
Cathay Pacific CEO Rupert Hogg resigned after some staff members were laid off due to supporting the protests.
https://www.reddit.com/r/HongKong/comments/cr4a3d/macau_psp_denies_assembly_in_senado_square_an/
Found this post where Public Security Police didn’t allow a solidarity protest to proceed in Macau.
As for the Chinese Americans who have expressed disapproval of the protests, I'd like to politely note that most mixed heritage folks tend to have far more personal loyalty to their original homelands than their adopted ones. Mainland China is becoming a serious, strong power these days.
Makes 'em feel proud. Makes' em want to have a piece of that pride, that nationalism. Makes 'em want to defend it, totalitarianism and human rights violations be damned.
Plus most Chinese Americans tend to be raised on very heavy Confucian principles, which as Fluffy said, demand order and stability over petty individual concerns, like civil liberties.
Edited by TheWildWestPyro on Aug 17th 2019 at 9:35:04 AM
Oh, bother.
In my case though, my original homeland is the USA since I was born there. And my parents came from the ROC in the first place, not mainland China.
Which makes it a lot easier for me to not side with mainland China.
Edited by M84 on Aug 18th 2019 at 12:23:59 AM
Disgusted, but not surprised
Given as the Taiwanese identity will literally be forced out of existence if the mainland fully annexes Taiwan, it's perfectly justified to be very suspicious of the mainland if you're Taiwanese by heritage.
Edited by TheWildWestPyro on Aug 17th 2019 at 9:35:36 AM
Why did the CEO of Cathay Pacific get sacked? Doesn't even look like he did anything wrong, he made the company follow China's wishes after the protests broke out.
No one is arrested in today's rally, and the cops only fired a single bean bag round that hit no one. Whether tomorrow's assembly in Victoria Park will end this peacefully is another question, an organized group of around one hundred men has arrived from the mainland and it is still not clear what they are up to.
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
He resigned willingly.
I’m assuming this has to do with the pressure of firing/keeping an eye on HK-based staff who are pro-protests/have protest sympathies since a pilot was caught by PTU during a protest.
HKPF released a statement today on what happened in Hung Hom:
The protestors then gathered outside Mong Kok Police Station, aimed laser beams and hurled objects at police officers. Traffic was also seriously obstructed after they blocked roads by miscellaneous objects.
Police began dispersal operation at around 7pm after repeated warnings issued to the protestors gathered in Mong Kok went to futile.
At around 7.30pm, a large group of protestors gathered on a footbridge near Mong Kok Road. They hurled an iron bucket, a litter container and miscellaneous objects at police officers and police vehicles under the footbridge. Police officers issued immediate but futile warnings. An iron bucket and a litter container hit the top of the police vehicle and fell onto the ground, seriously threatening the safety of police officers, members of the public and journalists at scene. To protect members of the public, police officers and everyone at scene from threats to life and serious injuries, a police officer shot a bean bag round at the assailant on the footbridge.
During the protests, Hung Hom, Kowloon City, Mong Kok and Tsim Sha Tsui Police Station Report Rooms have once suspended services which affected the emergency services to the public.
Police condemn the protestors’ behaviours which breached public peace. While Police respect the rights to express views peacefully and freedom to participate in public meetings and processions, Police also appeal to protestors to take into consideration public safety and public order.
Cathay Pacific has laid off a couple of pilots for supporting the protests.
BBC announced it.