TEHRAN, Jul 14 -Hong Kong protesters clashed with police on Saturday in a town near the boundary with mainland China where thousands rallied against the presence of Chinese traders, seizing on another grievance following major unrest over an extradition bill.
TEHRAN, Young Journalists Club (YJC) -Protesters in Sheung Shui, not far from the Chinese city of Shenzhen, threw umbrellas and hardhats at police, who retaliated by swinging batons and firing pepper spray.
“Our lovely town has become chaos,” resident Ryan Lai, 50, said shortly before the protest turned violent.
“We don’t want to stop travel and buying, but please, just make it orderly and legal,” he added, referring to so-called “parallel traders” who buy large volumes of duty-free goods in the town, to be carried into mainland China and sold.
“The extradition bill was the tipping point for us to come out. We want Sheung Shui back.”
The traders have long been a source of anger among those in Hong Kong who blame them for fuelling inflation, driving up property prices and dodging taxes.
Later, police urged protesters to refrain from violence and leave. By about 8:30 p.m. (1230 GMT), most had retreated as police in riot helmets and wielding large shields swept through the town to clear the streets.
Early on Sunday, the Hong Kong government condemned violent acts during the protests, adding that it had already taken steps to tackle parallel trading.
Anti-extradition protesters plan another demonstration on Sunday in the town of Sha Tin, in the so-called New Territories between Hong Kong island and the border with China.
Saturday’s protest, which had begun peacefully, was the latest in more than a month to roil the former British colony, grappling with its worst political crisis since it returned to Chinese rule in 1997.
Sometimes violent, the protests have drawn in millions of people, with hundreds even storming the legislature on July 1 to oppose a now-suspended extradition bill that would have allowed criminal suspects in Hong Kong to be sent to China to face trial in courts under ruling Communist Party control.
Critics see the bill as a threat to Hong Kong’s rule of law. Chief Executive Carrie Lam this week said the bill was “dead” after having suspended it last month, but opponents vow to settle for nothing short of its formal withdrawal.
Protests against the bill had largely centered on Hong Kong’s main business district, but demonstrators have recently begun to look elsewhere to widen support by taking up narrower, more domestic issues.
Source:reuters
Your Comment