• Asia: Another huge opposition demonstration in Hong Kong redoubled the challenge to Beijing
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The attempt to organize a symbolic convocation in Macau, a Chinese territory that theoretically enjoys the same political autonomy as Hong Kong , was settled on Monday night with the arrest of seven people and the deployment of dozens of police officers and vehicles.

Images spread on the social networks of that territory, which, unlike Hong Kong, are subject to strict control of Beijing's allied forces, allowed to see a long line of people facing the wall and monitored by the security forces sent to patrol the emblematic Senate Square, in the center of the town.

The minority of pro-democracy activists residing in the former Portuguese colony had required permission to hold a rally in support of the opposition demonstrations in Hong Kong, which was denied by the authorities.

The possibility that Hong Kong mobilizations become a benchmark for like-minded groups in the rest of the Chinese territory does not seem to be a feasible hypothesis, as most experts point out, before the overwhelming censorship and the omnipresent police presence that Beijing maintains over its population.

However, the Hong Kong crisis remains immersed in an unstoppable escalation on the eve of new protests , even after the head of the local government, Carrie Lam, today offered a new call for dialogue that was immediately rejected by several activist meanings of the opposition movement.

Lam said it was "sincere" to want to "talk to all those people to find a way out" to the current brete and said that the massive demonstration on Sunday, which was characterized by a total absence of violent incidents, may be "the beginning for society returns to peace "

"I will establish a platform for dialogue. I hope it is based on mutual understanding and respect," he added.

The Hong Kong leader once again evaded any effective decision on the extradition bill that gave rise to the protests, which remains in suspense but has not been officially withdrawn, or the opposition's request to investigate the police action in the first mobilizations .

Many people close to Beijing have criticized Lam's attitude, which seems mired in absolute political paralysis and faces an absolute discredit at the popular level. Some analysts even consider that the chief executive has become a hindrance to the power led by Xi Jinping.

Anthony Neoh himself, the same lawyer who appointed Lam in 2018 to oversee the Hong Kong security forces, spoke in favor of the government "officially burying" the legislative proposal as a conciliatory gesture towards the opponents and did not rule out that it can be opened the investigation that claims that sector, in an interview that published a local newspaper during the day.

Government inaction threatens to reactivate the mobilizations that are planned for the next days. The social tension rose even more in the last hours after a stranger stabbed several people next to one of the murals adorned with slogans of the opponents that have multiplied by the city. One of the injured is in a critical situation.

The British Foreign Ministry also reported that one of the employees of his consulate in Hong Kong, Simon Cheng, has been "missing" since last 8 , after traveling to the nearby Chinese city of Shenzhen. The official British statement warns that they have received information about the possible "detention" of that official.

Cheng wrote a last message to his girlfriend in which he said "I'm passing (the border). Pray for me" and then stopped answering his calls.

The Chinese police have stepped up the controls on the dividing line between Hong Kong and Shenzhen, questioning the trips and demanding that they show them the photos they have taken in the last days to erase those that show the protests that have been registered here since weeks

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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