Fresh Clashes, West-Backed Riots Hit Hong Kong

Date: 14 September 2019 - 21:28

News ID: ۷۰۴۲۷

HONG KONG (Dispatches) -- Hong Kong police moved in to break up scuffles on Saturday between pro-China protesters and West-backed rioters, the latest in months of sometimes violent clashes.
The pro-China demonstrators chanted "Support the police” and "China, add oil” at a shopping mall, adapting a line used by rioters and loosely meaning: "China, keep your strength up”.
"Hong Kong is China,” one woman shouted at rioters who shouted obscenities in return in an angry pushing and pulling standoff, marked more by the shouting than violence.
The clashes in the Kowloon Bay area of the Hong Kong "special administrative zone” of China spilled out onto the streets, with each confrontation captured by dozens of media and onlookers on their smart phones. Police detained several people.
But the unrest was minor compared with previous weeks when rioters have attacked the legislature and Liaison Office, the symbol of Chinese rule, trashed metro stations and set street fires. Police have responded with tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannon.
Rioters also gathered in the northwestern New Territories district of Tin Shui Wai, with a brief standoff with police. There were scattered scuffles between rival protesters elsewhere, including in the Fortress Hill area of Hong Kong island.
The spark for the unrest was a now-withdrawn extradition bill, but many young protesters are also angry about sky-high living costs and a lack of job prospects.
The extradition bill would have allowed people to be sent to mainland China for trial in courts. Hong Kong returned to China in 1997 under a "one country, two systems” formula.
China says Hong Kong is now its internal affair. It says it is committed to the "one country, two systems” arrangement and denies meddling.
China is eager to quell the unrest before the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China on Oct. 1. It has accused foreign powers, particularly the United States and Britain, of fomenting the unrest.