- Tweeter
republish
They challenge the government again. Despite intensifying police and judicial repression, thousands of people took to the streets this Sunday, October 6 in Hong Kong. They oppose the anti-masked decree taken two days ago, supposed to prevent them from covering their faces in the public space.
With our special correspondent in Hong Kong, Vincent Souriau
About 1,500 people on the main street in central Hong Kong. They all wear a mask in protest. Average age: 22 or 23 years old. This is the case since the beginning of the movement; youth is in the front line. It's doubly risky for them to be here.
First, this gathering is not allowed. On the other hand, the risk of arrest is much greater now because the security forces immediately seized the government order, in effect since Friday night. As early as Saturday morning, riot police rushed to attack peaceful protesters and put them to the ground because they had their faces masked.
Still there despite the real shots and the repression
Another difficulty for the pro-democracy camp: the closing of metro stations in the city center. The service has been partially restored, but the sensitive sites, the symbolic places of protest, are inaccessible by public transport. The authorities are doing their utmost to deflate this movement, which is still active despite real gunfire and judicial repression.
The pro-democracy camp denounces the hypocrisy of the government; uncompromising with the demonstrators, complacent with regard to police brutality. " It's really unfair. The police hide their identity, their number and their faces. But we must be unmasked when we have nothing to reproach ourselves, we are just there to be heard, "laments this participant.
Participants are concerned for the coming weeks
" I think this is the first step. They will cancel the local elections to be held in November. And in my opinion, the next step is the next year's legislative, because they know they will lose, "said a man, also crossed in the processions.
The anti-mask order is indeed a thing. But what worries the protesters is the following: the risks of authoritarian drift in the coming weeks. The demonstrators promise to continue the fight: " No choice, they say, it is our fundamental freedoms. "
► See also: In Hong Kong, the standoff between protesters and the police