Saturday marked the end of a relative ten-day lull in Hong Kong. Police in the former British colony used tear gas on Saturday and charged radical pro-democracy protesters with projectiles.
Barricade, insults and bottle throws
This semi-autonomous region of southern China has been experiencing its most serious political crisis since June since its return in 1997. Almost daily actions have been organized to denounce the decline in freedoms and the growing interference of Beijing. While after a series of serious skirmishes, the protests have been peaceful for more than a week, the tension has escalated a notch Saturday in the popular district of Kwun Tong, in the east of the mainland of Hong Kong .
After marching through the neighborhood, thousands of protesters dressed in black and many with gas masks and hard hats were blocked by dozens of riot police. Protesters erected across a street a barricade made of plastic barriers used for traffic and bamboo stems used to make scaffolding in the construction industry. Inscriptions "Chinazi" appeared on the concrete walls separating the two tracks of this artery.
Many insults flared from the ranks of the protesters towards the policemen, in the center for weeks of protestors' anger, accusing them of violence. After a few hours of face-to-face meetings, radicals began throwing bottles at law enforcement, or shooting at them with slingshots. The response was not long in coming, the police charging by also firing tear gas canisters, which had not been used for ten days. Several protesters were arrested, according to an AFP journalist on the spot.
An ephemeral return to calm
After weeks of essentially peaceful mobilization, the demonstrations escalated in late July and early August into clashes between radicals throwing stones or bricks and the police force making massive use of tear gas and rubber bullets. In addition, there was the beating at the Hong Kong airport of two mainland Chinese suspected of being Beijing spies. The incident generated Chinese accusations of terrorism and growing threats of military intervention.
Last Sunday, in response, a great peaceful march was organized in the former British colony, gathering 1.7 million people according to its organizers. "Pacifism will not solve the problem," retorted Saturday one of the protesters calling himself Ryan.
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The mobilization left in June the rejection of a Beijing-backed local executive bill, which aimed to allow extradition to mainland China. The movement has since considerably expanded its demands. Protesters have five fundamental demands, including the complete abandonment of the extradition bill, the resignation of chief executive Carrie Lam and a police investigation of the use of force. As night fell on Saturday, protesters unearthed cobblestones and hung together metal barriers, ostensibly eager to continue to fight with the police.
Exasperation
"It is the government that refused the dialogue with the demonstrators," said an AFP protester wishing to remain anonymous. "I do not see any future with this regime, that's why I am now more and more in the front line during the events."
Many protesters told AFP Saturday of their exasperation. "Young people who are outside are putting their future at risk for Hong Kong," said Dee Cheung, 65. "We do not agree with everything they do, especially with those who charge the police, but we also have to ask why they do that."
For his part, the family of Simon Cheng, the employee of the British consulate who had been arrested in Mainland China, announced on Saturday that he had returned to Hong Kong. Sino-British relations have been tense since the beginning of the protest in June, with Beijing accusing London of interference in its internal affairs. The Chinese Government had indicated that the consular employee was being held in administrative detention for 15 days without giving reasons. The Chinese press reported that the reason for the arrest was that Simon Cheng had "solicited prostitutes". His family had denounced "trumped-up" charges.