Hong Kong violence grows

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After marches and water cannon Saturday things got worse as darkness fell. Via Hong Kong Free Press:

Violent scenes erupted across Hong Kong on Saturday night, as the MTR closed five lines and police fired two live rounds in Causeway Bay.

Local media reported that the warning shots were fired as police were conducting arrests in Causeway Bay. HKFP witnessed police being aided by people who appeared to be undercover officers dressed as protesters.

As the violence spilt over into Kowloon, police were also seen charging onto the platforms of Mong Kok and Prince Edward MTR station to conduct arrests.

TV news footage showed riot police beating people with their batons inside train carriages at Prince Edward station and deploying pepper spray, with many passengers seen to be cowering and bleeding.

Then came Sunday, at the FT:

Hong Kong protesters blockaded the city’s international airport on Sunday, capping off a weekend of chaos that involved some of the most intense clashes yet seen in the city’s nearly three-month-old political crisis.

On Sunday afternoon thousands of demonstrators converged on the airport, the world’s third busiest by passenger numbers, shutting down its train shuttle service and barricading roads with shared bikes, trolleys and traffic barriers. Most flights continued operating as normal, although some travellers were unable to arrive in time for their departure. Riot police eventually cleared the crowds of protesters.

“The airport is Hong Kong’s most important economic lifeline,” said Cary, a 19-year-old student, standing in front of makeshift barricades designed to block the major road leading to the airport. “We have to try to shut it down to pressure the government.”

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More protests are planned. The CCP is marshaling, at SCMP:

Communist Party mouthpiece Xinhua on Sunday condemned the increasingly violent anti-government protests in Hong Kong, warning that “the end is coming for those attempting to disrupt Hong Kong and antagonise China”.

The news agency’s commentary did not threaten specific action to end the protests, other than repeating unwavering support for the Hong Kong government and police actions to end them.

But the commentary – the latest in a series of strongly worded statements from Beijing – did lay out three bottom lines “that must not be crossed”.

“No one should harm [China’s] national sovereignty and security; no one should challenge the power of the central authorities and the authority of the Basic Law of the HKSAR; no one should use Hong Kong to infiltrate and undermine the mainland,” it said, referring to the city’s formal title of Special Administrative Region.

“Anyone who dares to infringe upon these bottom lines and interfere in or damage the ‘one country, two systems’ principle will face nothing but failure and will be held accountable by the country’s constitution and the HKSAR’s Basic Law.”

I can’t see the brave Hongkies winning but they may save democracy for the rest of us.

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About the author
David Llewellyn-Smith is Chief Strategist at the MB Fund and MB Super. David is the founding publisher and editor of MacroBusiness and was the founding publisher and global economy editor of The Diplomat, the Asia Pacific’s leading geo-politics and economics portal. He is also a former gold trader and economic commentator at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, the ABC and Business Spectator. He is the co-author of The Great Crash of 2008 with Ross Garnaut and was the editor of the second Garnaut Climate Change Review.