China and Hong Kong flags (Photo by TungCheung from Shutterstock).

Hong Kongers have delivered a clarion call for change over the last fortnight with a landslide local election defeat for the government and more than one in ten hitting the streets peacefully on Sunday — but will Beijing listen?
Monday marks the sixth month anniversary of a movement that has upended the semi-autonomous Chinese hub’s reputation for stability and blanketed its streets with unprecedented scenes of political violence.
But the last two weeks has seen a dramatic drop-off in clashes and vandalism — something the city’s pro-Beijing leadership has insisted must be a precursor to any meaningful dialogue.
The question on many lips now is whether chief executive Carrie Lam — and Beijing — will take the opportunity to reach out before anger explodes once more.
“Ignoring our voices will only make the snowball get bigger and bigger and there will be consequences to that,” Bonnie Leung, a prominent figure within the pro-democracy movement’s more moderate wing, told AFP.
The rare period of calm began in the run up to city-wide local polls in late November — the only election with universal suffrage.
Millions turned out tipping pro-establishment parties out of office and flipping all but one of the city’s 18 local councils to the pro-democracy camp.
The vote shattered government claims that a “silent majority” opposed the protests.
Then on Sunday the city witnessed its largest mass rally in months with organisers estimating some 800,000 people turned out, a vivid illustration of the public frustration that still seethes under the surface.
The rally, which received rare permission, was almost entirely peaceful. Small fires were lit outside two major courts and police pepper sprayed bystanders during an argument.
But no tear gas was fired — the first time a mass rally has been smoke free since the middle of August.
800,00 people ‘still a very, very large number’
Jimmy Sham, from rally organiser the Civil Human Rights Front, said the ball was now firmly in the government’s court.
“We have to remind the SAR government that 800,000 people is still a very, very large number,”  he told reporters.
“Carrie Lam should listen to our Hong Kongers’ demand as soon as possible,” he added.
Semi-autonomous Hong Kong has been battered by increasingly violent demonstrations in the starkest challenge the city has presented to Beijing since its 1997 handover from Britain.
Millions have marched in protests fuelled by years of growing fears that authoritarian China is stamping out the city’s liberties.
The movement’s demands include an independent inquiry into the police’s handling of the protests, an amnesty for those arrested, and fully free elections.
But there is little sign Lam is willing to budge.
Since the electoral drubbing, her administration has made vague commitments to listen to people’s demands, but no concrete concessions.
Beijing has stuck by her even as she languishes with record low approval ratings and the city police force’s reputation takes a hammering.
The movement’s more radical wing — which has embraced violent tactics — appears to have faded into the background for now.
Hardcore protesters had vowed to restart widespread travel disruptions at dawn on Monday if there was no response from Lam. But the threats did not emerge.
‘We still have plans’
On LIHKG, a Reddit-like web forum that serves as a virtual command centre for frontliners, discussion abounded on whether a resumption of tactics that disrupted ordinary Hong Kongers for much of October and November might backfire.
“Many people think the dawn action has devolved into just disturbing residents while having no effect pressuring the government,” one popular post read, referring to the tactic of paralysing the transport network.
Some are looking to more traditional labour action.
Mung Siu-tat, head of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy Federation of Trade Unions, said more than 30 newly founded unions have reached out for help in recent weeks.
“Quite a number of them are formed by white-collar workers, professionals and executives, who in the past might find it less necessary to unionise but have been politically awakened by the movement,” Mung told AFP.
Arrests skyrocketed in October and early November, especially after thousands of more hardline activists were surrounded by police on a university campus.
“The scale (of violence) may go down a bit because of the massive arrests over the last few weeks,” political analyst Dixon Wong told AFP.
But there are growing fears unrest may return if Lam and Beijing do not offer some sort of olive branch.
On Sunday evening, organisers called on marchers to go home, one black-clad protester took off his mask.
“You have been leading marches for 30 years but what have you achieved?” he shouted.
“We still have plans for a lot of things we want to do for Hong Kong.”
— AFP

Subscribe
Notify of
0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
You May Also Like

MCCY: We got online guide and quiz to help new citizens deepen their understanding of S'pore

Replying on ST Forum today (‘SC Journey programme helps new citizens integrate‘,…

致骑脚车六旬妇重创离世 20岁电动滑板车骑士面控

电动滑板车撞死六旬老妇事故,有关骑士于昨日(11月11日)出庭面控。 20岁的黄杰文(Hung Kee Boon)昨日被控鲁莽行为致使65岁的助力包装员黄美英(Ong Bee Eng)逝世。 身为新加坡永久居民、来自马来西亚的被告,也在《活跃通勤法令》(Active Mobility Act)下面对两项控状。 据悉,被告于今年9月21日晚上10时20分,在勿洛北3巷,靠近第539座组屋附近的脚车道上,以至少26公里至28公里的时速骑着电动踏板车,与死者发生碰撞。 死者当时正骑着脚车,朝向菜市路的住家前进。 根据《2018年活跃通勤守则》,个人代步工具的时速,在任何情况下都不能超过25公里。…

烟霾生态灾害危及人类及野生物种

印尼森林大火持续延烧,导致我国与邻国马来西亚受到烟霾影响,人民叫苦连天,甚至威胁受保护动物人猿。 《法新社》报道,婆罗洲人猿生存基金会(The Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation)周二发文表示,烟霾已经为上百只人猿的生命健康带来影响。 “浓厚的烟雾不仅仅威胁了工作人员的身体,也同时威胁了我们目前照顾的355只人猿,已有37只人猿很可能患有呼吸道感染。”婆罗洲人猿生存基金会表示。 印尼森林大火始于当地人使用“刀耕火种法”开垦土地,印尼苏门答腊岛与加里曼丹岛上居民经常以这种方式开垦种植农作物,此方式容易使火势造成一发不可收拾。 为能尽快灭火,印尼政府已部署上千名军警作为临时消防员,派出数十架校方飞机,将苏门答腊与加里曼丹原始森林的大火扑灭。 过去数十年间,人猿的自然生态因经常受到当地居民开垦土地的威胁而急速下降。据国际自然保护联盟的数据,加里曼丹原始森林的人猿自1973年由28万8500只下降到今日的10万只。