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Protesters at Hong Kong Airport this Friday, August 9, 2019. REUTERS / Thomas Peter

A new weekend of protests opens this Saturday, August 10 in Hong Kong: it has been more than two months since the protesters claim the withdrawal of a law that would have allowed the extradition in China of people arrested on the territory of Hong Kong. They also ask for more democracy.

From our special envoy to Hong Kong, Christophe Paget

At least five marches are planned in Hong Kong this weekend, all banned. For one of them, the protesters are allowed to meet in a park but not to move. The police, too, are preparing: on the social networks used by the protesters, we can see the photo of a police station that would have deployed a large net on its facade to protect itself from various projectiles.

►To listen: An Honkongan family, at the opening of a protest week-end

But the head of the Hong Kong executive Carrie Lam has already warned this Friday that she excluded any concession " in order to silence the demonstrators perpetrators of violence ." And on Thursday, she reminded the retired police chief who had been running the umbrella movement five years ago: this weekend the protesters will see if the police they accuse of violence has changed their attitude, in a meaning or in the other.

Also read: these tactics developed by the protesters to counter the police

Meanwhile, Beijing still supports Carrie Lam , and asks the Hong Kong airline Cathay Pacific to ban the flight of its staff members who went on strike on Monday. In fact, the demonstrators know that with the Hong Kong airport , they hold a good sounding of international resonance: this Friday, part of them has taken its quarters for three days to inform the foreign arrivals of the situation in the Chinese Special Administrative Region they are visiting.

There is really a decline of the rule of law in Hong Kong

Lawyer Wilson Leung advises protesters

Wilson Leung is a lawyer, he is part of the Progressive Lawyers Association of Hong Kong, which since June has already published on the internet five documents describing their rights to protesters.

10/08/2019 - by Christophe Paget Play