Hong Kong Pro-Democracy Rally in DC
More than 100 young people gathered in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday to show solidarity with pro-democracy demonstrators in Hong Kong. he peaceful crowd mostly students and young professionals...
By: Fusion
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Hong Kong Pro-Democracy Rally in DC - Video
Clashes broke out on Friday at the site of one of Hong Kong's pro-democracy protests as local residents and pro-Beijing supporters tried to evict activists from the street they were occupying. (AP)
HONG KONG Opponents of pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong opened their own counteroffensive Friday, pulling down barricades and scuffling with demonstrators seeking to keep alive their occupation of key sites around the enclave.
The backlash whether sanctioned by pro-Beijing factions or a spontaneous groundswell against the disruptions represents a critical juncture for the crowds that have challenged authorities for more than a week with demands for a greater voice over affairs in the former British colony.
The numbers of protesters on the streets have dropped off under a combination of factors, including torrential downpours and a pledge by Hong Kongs chief executive to open government dialogue with the demonstrators.
The mob-style attacks on various protest strongholds also could set the stage for wider crackdowns by officials, who have warned they would not tolerate open-ended demonstrations that have paralyzed highways and surrounded government buildings.
Protests flared late last week in opposition to plans for Chinese officials to vet candidates for elections in Hong Kong, which was handed over to Beijing in 1997. The showdowns soon evolved into a ideological confrontation over whether Western-looking Hong Kong should retain some degree of autonomy from the central government a concession Beijing appears unwilling to make.
Friday was the first day many Hong Kong residents returned to work after a two-day holiday although the central government closed its offices, telling workers to work from home.
Opponents of the protesters struck back in several areas. The most dramatic incidents took place in Mong Kok, on the other side of the harbor from the central business district. Groups converged on the protest site and started taking down tents and removing barricades. There were reports on social media of roaming mobs scuffling with pro-democracy demonstrators.
By late afternoon, the student demonstrators were hemmed in on all sides by counter-protesters, who were kept back only by a thin cordon of police, who attempted to separate the protesters from their opponents by holding hands and forming a human chain. Two buses which had been parked by the protest site since the occupation began earlier in the week, adorned with pro-democracy banners, were driven away to the applause of the anti-occupy crowds.
Questions abound over the nature of the counter-protests, which pro-democracy activists claim are rent-a-mobs mobilized by pro-Beijing factions in the city, according to local media.
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Hong Kong protesters scuffle with opponents of pro-democracy campaign
Screaming until they were red in the face, arguing until they burst into tears, supporters and opponents of Hong Kong's democracy protests faced off Friday afternoon in the dense commercial district of Mong Kok.
"Get out!" yelled dozens of men, pumping their fists and urging police to clear the intersection of Nathan and Argyle roads, a busy interchange with banks on each corner and shuttered jewelry shops and restaurants nearby.
Police struggled to keep the situation from erupting into a riot as periodic punches were thrown, water bottles were lobbed and curses hurled. As the afternoon wore on, the crowd swelled to perhaps 10,000.
"This is kind of the last stand," said Adrian O'Sullivan, who moved to Hong Kong from Manchester, Britain, three years ago and has been joining in the democracy demonstrations all week. "This was the first spot on this side [of Victoria Harbor] where spontaneous protests broke out after people couldn't get to Hong Kong Island to join the demonstrations there. We have to hold this."
Mark Ledford, a tourist from Orange County, spent the afternoon taking in the scene at the intersection. "I don't have politics when I'm on vacation, I like to say," said Ledford, who runs a kids gym business in Rancho Santa Margarita and experienced tear gas earlier in the week when police clashed with protesters. "But I support what the students are doing out here."
As a business owner, Ledford said he understood some proprietors may be upset about how the ongoing demonstrations have curtailed business, but ultimately, he said, the foundations of enterprise depend on the kind of government protesters are seeking.
At 5:30 p.m., a red canopy tent at theNathan and Argyle intersection was torn down and police, linked arm in arm, opened up a lane of traffic. Several buses, which had been halted in the intersection for days and covered with pro-democracy fliers, were driven out of the area.
A small group of democracy demonstrators seemed to be encircled in the main intersection by opponents and police.
In a bizarre turn of events, police were essentially protecting the democracy protesters in the intersection who were besieged on all four sides by opponents.
Around 6 p.m., organizers started suggesting to supporters that they abandon the Mong Kok encampment, but a die-hard group refused to leave.
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Supporters, opponents of Hong Kong democracy protests face off
HONG KONG (CNNMoney)
For Jennifer Moberg, the answer is nearly 3,000 miles. After hearing from friends that pro-democracy protests in the city were escalating and that police were using tear gas on protesters, she immediately decided to return from Afghanistan, where she is working as a music teacher.
"The crazy part about that is that Sunday was also the inauguration of Afghanistan's new president," Moberg said.
"I just couldn't understand how I could be in one of the most dangerous countries on the planet, watching a peaceful transfer of power, while at the same time, Hong Kong -- one of the most peaceful, stable, organized places in the world -- was in protest," she said.
"At that point, I thought -- well, I have to come back."
Moberg lobbied for a few days off from work, and flew out the following day to join other Hong Kongers on the streets.
"I want to vote [in Hong Kong]," she said. "[We should] be able to pick our own leader."
Related: Police use tear gas as 'Occupy' comes to Hong Kong
Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement exploded last weekend as huge crowds of students flooded the city's main business district, and blocked several key arteries in the city.
Heavy-handed police action against them Sunday brought even more people into the streets. Protesters want free and open elections, while Beijing has proposed a system that will allow it to basically screen candidates for the city's top office.
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I flew from Afghanistan for HK democracy
Oct. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Bloombergs Andrew Davis reports on pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong as scuffles begin to break out between protesters and their opponents. He speaks on Bloomberg Surveillance.
Hong Kongs pro-democracy demonstrators came under assault at two protest sites in the city as hundreds of men tussled with students, shouted abuse and removed barricades.
Protest leader Benny Tai urged activists to leave Mong Kok, saying lives could be at risk. In Causeway Bay, where more confrontations took place, a group trying to reclaim a main road described themselves as ordinary citizens.
Slideshow: Hong Kong's Democracy Standoff
The violence forced protesters to leave swathes of the city they had occupied for the past week, with police escorting some students past angry crowds shouting abuse in Mong Kok. Protest leaders said they will cancel planned talks with the government unless the police halt what they called organized attacks.
Hong Kongs Autonomy
We see that violent thugs are maliciously attacking demonstrators, said Tai, founder of the Occupy Central With Love and Peace group. We urge citizens who are participating in the Occupy movement to leave Mong Kok immediately and come to rally in Admiralty, so that we can support each other.
Causeway Bay and Mong Kok -- a working-class area across the harbor in Kowloon -- are popular shopping districts. The centrally located Admiralty has been the biggest stronghold for the activists, who have surrounded the government headquarters there.
The pro-democracy demonstrations have paralyzed parts of central Hong Kong this week, and affected sales at retailers including Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Group Ltd., as well as the takings of bars, restaurants and cab drivers. Demonstrators want public nomination of candidates for the 2017 leadership contest, and the resignation of Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying.
If I see those people wearing yellow ribbon, I will crush them, said Lee, one of the men at Mong Kok shouting at the students to leave. Everyone is affected by this inconvenience. Our police are too tolerant.
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Hong Kong Protesters Attacked at Pro-Democracy Protests