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The city of Hong Kong is at the dawn of a new weekend of pro-democracy protests. Police banned gatherings everywhere, except in Victoria Park. Not enough, "a priori", dissuade the protesters. Strong mobilization is expected despite intimidation by the Chinese authorities. In recent days, the official media has broadcast impressive images of military trucks, tanks, police marching through a stadium in Shenzhen just a few kilometers from Hong Kong.
With our correspondent in Beijing, Stéphane Lagarde
It is in its English version that the nationalist daily Global Times gives a rare allusion to the spring of Beijing, the repression of Chinese students thirty years ago being still censored in mainland China. If the communist regime decides to use force in Hong Kong, it " would not be a repeat of the political incident of June 4, 1989, " says the Global Times . An article aimed at foreign readers, as the world worries about the presence of military vehicles lined up in the Hong Kong Bay stadium located 7 km from the border with the Special Administrative Region.
Light armored
State media released Thursday, August 15, training videos of the People's Armed Police (PAP) in Shenzhen. We see light armored vehicles equipped with shovels to break the barricades, cranes to lift the buses lying on the road or trucks equipped with water cannons. PAP troops are placed directly under the command of the Central Military Commission and specialized in the suppression of demonstrations in urban areas.
This tension was further heightened by preparations for the 70th anniversary of the founding of the Republic of China on October 1, 2019. New cameras and metal fences were installed on the avenues of central Beijing, probably as part of the festivities. The Chinese authorities fear that the unrest in Hong Kong will spoil the party.
Send troops? " Disproportionate and counterproductive "
Kacey Wong is a 49-year-old pro-democracy artist and activist. He believes that Hong Kong people do not fear armed intervention: " Hong Kong is the goose that lays the golden eggs for the Chinese Communist Party. They need Hong Kong to do their money laundering internationally and buy military equipment. It is also a very important financial center for them. Therefore sending troops here would be totally disproportionate and counterproductive. And that the Hong Kong people know it very well, "he concludes.