In Hong Kong, the protest finds new life in the street

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Protesters take part in a march for Human Rights Day organized by the Civil Rights Front in Hong Kong, China, on December 8, 2019. REUTERS / Danish Siddiqui

Hundreds of people again took to the streets this Sunday, December 8. A demonstration that testified to the continued strength of the protest movement against the executive backed by China.

With our correspondent in Beijing, Stéphane Lagarde

Only the masks on the face and the five fingers raised, accompanying the slogan " Five claims, not one less ", mark a difference with last June. Otherwise, they are the same images. Those of a huge and peaceful crowd marching in the streets of central Hong Kong , volunteers recycling leaflets and bottles of water on the passage of processions.

1 Million + Hong Kongers marched on the streets; not only no one litters, they even take the extra steps to recycle plastic bottles.

Incredible people # HongKongProtest pic.twitter.com/Bq6xxQE9cr

And even, a sign of relative restraint on the side of the police as radical protesters, the crowd departs to let families with strollers and protesters in wheelchairs.

Hongkongers open a pathway Thunderous applause to the front of the market! #FreeHongKong #StandWithHongKong pic.twitter.com/kQwTXQaeBd

After the electoral tidal wave in the district elections , the population is no longer silent, contrary to what the executive has long claimed. The majority of Hong Kong support the movement, according to David Bartel, a specialist in Chinese politics at Hong Kong Baptist University. " There were 2 million people on the street, there were elections, the law on Hong Kong in the United States ... Now, there are another million people on the street. For the Hong Kong people, it would be difficult to be clearer about their demands. "

" Hong Kong has support in China "

Following the events, the researcher is cautious. " It's hard to see what can happen unless you get into politics-fiction and say that Hong Kong will start generating something in China. "

But Hong Kong has support in China, said David Bartel. " There are demonstrations 60km away, mobilization that may have similarities with Hong Kong. We know that in Beijing, it's very complicated, because they know very little Hong Kong. "

" The Hong Kong people are not going to demobilize, think David Bartel. When the government does not hear, people tend to talk louder. It's not unique to Hong Kong. I think we are going to review things that we saw this summer in terms of radicalization on both sides. "

For Beijing refuses to yield on universal suffrage, as on the other claims of the protesters. " The challenge should continue," says Andrew Shum Wai Nam of the Hong Kong Teachers Union. In mainland China, the state media did not give the figure of mobilization this Sunday. They preferred to mention President Xi Jinping's December 20 visit to Macau to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the return of the former Portuguese colony to China. "

►Also read : Hong Kong: 800,000 people on the street for the six months of the protest