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Hong Kong was this Saturday, July 13 the scene of clashes between police and protesters, and the day of mobilization of this Sunday promises to be still agitated.
The demonstration that gathered more than 30,000 people this Saturday in Sheung Shui, a locality near the border with China, was peppered with clashes with the police. Most stores had lowered the curtain before the protest and those who remained open were forced to close by the protesters. They protested against the "parallel traders", the Chinese traffickers who illegally export goods from Hong Kong to mainland China.
The dozens of pharmacies and cosmetics stores that flourish in Sheung Shui are highly appreciated by these merchants who come to Hong Kong to stock up, without turnover tax, to resell them on the other side of the border. . If they stimulate business in border areas, these "parallel traders" are also a source of tension because they contribute to the increase in rents.
2,000 police mobilized this Sunday
This Sunday, it is in Shatin, a new city built in the 1970s, that a new march must take place. The organizers are counting on 10,000 participants, but last week's march that was to attract 2,000 people in the Tsim Sha Tsui district, where Chinese tourists are shopping, eventually reunited 230,000 according to the organizers, and 56,000 according to the police.
Fearing altercations with pro-Chinese groups, more numerous in this part of the territory, the police announced to have mobilized 2,000 men, reports our correspondent in Hong Kong, Florence de Changy .
The semi-autonomous territory has been the scene of massive demonstrations for more than a month, on the fringes of which violent clashes broke out with the police. Initially created by a pro-Beijing government bill authorizing extraditions to Mainland China, which has since been suspended , they have turned into a vast pro-democracy movement.
But these demonstrations also reflect the exasperation of the Hong Kong people towards tourists and immigrants from China. About one million Chinese have emigrated to Hong Kong since the handover in 1997, a cause of friction in a city of 7.3 million people who suffer from a severe housing shortage and where the cost of real estate is exorbitant .
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