Rival groups of demonstrators clashed in Hong Kong and police made arrests in another weekend of mass protests after months of political unrest.
Dozens of pro-Beijing protesters waved Chinese flags and chanted “support the police” at a mall in Kowloon Bay yesterday as pro-democracy demonstrators gathered, clad in black and wearing masks.
After a standoff, members of the two sides began to fight, throwing punches and hitting each other with umbrellas before police separated them. At least one man was seen bleeding from the head.
Photo: AFP
Groups of anti-government and pro-government protesters yelled at each other and scuffled by a nearby “Lennon wall” — murals of protest art set up by demonstrators.
In one incident, protesters surrounded a woman they accused of filming them and refused to let her leave. Police were seen tackling and subduing several people, some of whom said they were local residents going to the mall.
As Hong Kong enters its fourth month of mass protests, tensions between supporters and critics of the pro-democracy movement have escalated.
Earlier yesterday, fights broke out between residents in Fortress Hill and a group of pro-government demonstrators in blue T-shirts, after a Lennon wall had been torn down.
Video footage showed groups of men using Chinese flags to beat mostly younger men.
In one scene, a group chased and kicked a young man until a passerby shielded him with his body.
Hundreds of anti-government protesters in masks and all-black outfits were also marching in Tin Shui Wai, a neighborhood in Hong Kong’s New Territories, defying a police ban on the planned event.
Bus lines to the area were shut as riot police faced off against protesters who were building barricades on the streets.
Yesterday marked the 15th consecutive weekend of mass protests in Hong Kong, where demonstrations against the government have deeply divided society. The protests, triggered by an extradition bill that would allow suspects to be sent to mainland China, has turned into a broader pro-democracy movement.
Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam (林鄭月娥) promised to permanently withdraw the bill, but protesters have vowed to continue until all their demands are met.
Meanwhile, Hong Kong democracy activist Joshua Wong (黃之鋒) on Friday urged US President Donald Trump to include a “human rights clause” in any trade agreement with China, and sought Washington’s backing for the territory’s democracy movement.
The 22-year-old called on US politicians to pass a bill expressing support for the pro-democracy campaign during a speaking engagement in New York, a few hours after arriving in the US.
“It’s significant to add a human rights clause in the trade negotiations and put Hong Kong protests under the agenda of the trade negotiations,” Wong told reporters afterward.
The world’s two biggest economies have been locked in a bitter trade dispute for the past year, resulting in tit-for-tat tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars in two-way trade.
Trade talks between Beijing and Washington are scheduled for next month.
Wong said it is crucial Hong Kong is factored into the negotiations, adding that the territory faces the threat of emergency laws “similar to martial law” and fears that China could send troops to the semi-autonomous region.
“If China has no intention to safeguard Hong Kong’s economic freedom and open business it will also affect and damage the world economy,” he said.
Wong arrived in the US after visiting Germany as he seeks global support for Hong Kong’s widening pro-democracy protests.
US President Donald Trump yesterday announced sweeping "reciprocal tariffs" on US trading partners, including a 32 percent tax on goods from Taiwan that is set to take effect on Wednesday. At a Rose Garden event, Trump declared a 10 percent baseline tax on imports from all countries, with the White House saying it would take effect on Saturday. Countries with larger trade surpluses with the US would face higher duties beginning on Wednesday, including Taiwan (32 percent), China (34 percent), Japan (24 percent), South Korea (25 percent), Vietnam (46 percent) and Thailand (36 percent). Canada and Mexico, the two largest US trading
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
RSS