{"id":27628,"date":"2020-01-16T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-01-16T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/?p=27628"},"modified":"2020-01-16T00:05:49","modified_gmt":"2020-01-16T05:05:49","slug":"new-year-same-fight-a-hong-kong-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/tartan-news\/2020\/01\/16\/new-year-same-fight-a-hong-kong-update\/","title":{"rendered":"New Year, Same Fight: A Hong Kong Update"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The citizens of Hong Kong remain concerned regarding the removal of their civil liberties within their country. After weeks of relative calm, on Wednesday Dec. 31, the planned peaceful New Year\u2019s Day march turned to violence within hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was the second large-scale demonstration that the police authorized. Thousands of people had begun the day marching at Victoria Park in a protest named “Stand Shoulder to Shoulder.\u201d They chanted “five demands, not one less” and “liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They want the Carrie Lam administration to accept their demands; the biggest being an independent probe into police actions and universal suffrage. Hong Kong used to be a British colony that was promised different freedoms from the rest of China, though Britain returned the city to China in 1997.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Civil Human Rights Front (CHRF)<\/a>, the event\u2019s organizer, said over a million people had marched. The police estimate was lower, suggesting only 60,560 people had marched, causing official numbers to be unknown. Hours after it began, the police rescinded their permission, saying “thugs” had thrown bricks and petrol bombs, set fires, damaged banks and shops during the demonstration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At least five people were arrested for vandalizing both a glass door and ATMs at two branches of Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC), a large pro-China bank in the city. It had recently shut down the Spark Alliance\u2019s $70 million account.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The CHRF told Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) that they condemned the officers for “forcing” them to end the march, saying that the police were “full of lies” about what was happening and, “aim to separate Hong Kongers.” They say that after police arrested people “it was quite peaceful,” until they say the officers “simultaneously deployed tear gas.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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