Antony Dapiran
@antd
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Writer/Lawyer/Photographer. Author of Walkley-nominated book “City on Fire: The Fight for Hong Kong” ( @scribepub ). Melbourne-born, HK-based.
Hong Kong
Joined March 2007
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Ok, since we’re all doing this, just in case: I, too, have a Substack (which was once very active but is currently not for reasons, but I may well reactivate it), it’s 100% free & you can find it here:
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In TST, a protester helps a food stall vendor who has been affected by tear gas to wash out his eyes. Another one gives him a pair of goggles.
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Nathan Rd, Yau Ma Tei, Monday afternoon. Thousands of protesters and supply chains stretching further than I can see, at least a kilometer or more.
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A VIDEO THREAD: How did HK protesters use hand signals & human chains to get supplies quickly to front lines on Monday? Here, they need more helmets at the front line at LegCo doors. What to do? The hand signal for “helmets” is passed from the front line through the crowd...
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This. If this was happening in any other civilised place, the political leadership would be speaking to the people, seeking to calm, reassure, explain, at least justify. But HK has to cope not only with the ongoing events but with SILENCE from Lam and her government. Shameful.
Meanwhile the city is completely bereft of leadership, Carrie Lam has disappeared and has ceded control of policy and the city more broadly to a police force that has radicalised and hardened over protests.
Without accountability they can do whatever they want. And they are.
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How to politicize & radicalize a generation:
So much has happened this week, but this photo absolutely got to me.
These young students aren't "rioters". They're trying to go to school, because the government has said it's safe to do so.
There is so much wrong here.
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Can’t believe what I’m watching. This is a Monday morning in HK.
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An eerie scene as protesters are cloaked in clouds of tear gas on Granville Rd, TST
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Basic Law Art 22: “No department of the Central People's Government...may interfere in the affairs which the HKSAR administers on its own in accordance with this Law.”
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Mass barring of pro-democracy legislators from running in LegCo elections (which may be delayed anyway). Not surprising, but also death knell for any pretense HK had to even a semi democratic system.
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Excellent
@guardian
editorial: HKers "see protest actions as spawned by police violence & a govt that can only crack down, never compromise... HK’s gov must rely on police because it does not have support of the public."
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This is really important. Police/prosecutors have huge discretion in bringing charges. Lam says the IPCC is sufficient to deal with complaints against police but how can it be if people are afraid to actually use it? An independent inquiry is essential.
In the press conference, veteran lawyer Albert Ho added that victims of police brutality were unwilling to seek legal redress for fear of police increasing the seriousness of their charges in revenge - for example, from "obstructing an officer" to "rioting".
File photo: HKFP.
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Unclear how reliable this is, but HK01 (which slants pro-govt) is reporting that Beijing will tonight announce a national security law applying to HK (passing Article 23-style law at the national level & applying it to HK through Annex III of the Basic Law). Stay tuned...
【政情】《香港01》獲得消息，今年人大會議的議程包括一項全新的「港版國安法」，堵塞香港的國安漏洞，放在《基本法》附件三在港實施，變相為香港國家安全問題部分立法。消息強調，這並非《基本法》23條立法。
.
#香港01
#HK01
App →
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Heartbreaking. Context via
@WilliamYang120
earlier: “Among those arrested [in Mong Kok today] was a father whose son witnessed him being taken away by HK police & he reportedly kept waving at his father while shouting "father, father" as his dad was taken onto the police van.”
The moment that the boy waved and shouted “father, father.”
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Others have mentioned this but just to reiterate: Police have been using indiscriminate arrest as a crowd control mechanism. Most are later released without charge. This measure effectively prevents civil servants even participating in or going anywhere near protests.
On Friday, Secretary for Civil Service Joshua Law wrote to all civil servants saying they would face immediate suspension from duties if they are simply arrested - rather than convicted - in relation to the ongoing protests.
File photo: GovHK.
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The students of elite Kings College have a message for Carrie Lam this morning: “Five demands, not one less!” 五大訴求，缺一不可！
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<Adjusts glasses> Erm, *actually* it was because the camera had a very fast shutter speed.
Why could the reporter capture this photo?
Because the police are shooting RIGHT AT HIS/HER CAMERA.
#HongKongProstests
#PoliceBrutalityHK
#hongkongpolicebrutality
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Carrie Lam mentioned yesterday her approach would be guided by the UK's response to Tottenham Riots. Lam would be better advised to look at how the LAPD was reformed after Rodney King & the LA Riots of 1992.
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This is the key conclusion to a comprehensive thread on the erosion & death of freedom of assembly in HK. Note that a similar pattern of erosion is now also occurring with respect to freedom of expression.
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Q: "Has Beijing finally succeeded in breaking the spirit of the HK protest movement?"
A:
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I think it’s safe to say the Public Order Ordinance “no objection notice” system is broken. That said, Lee Chuk-Yan, Albert Ho & other Pan-dems are taking on a huge risk of prosecution by publicly leading this “banned” march today.
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Oh nothing unusual, just crowds of HK financial district office workers at lunchtime walking through a high-end mall chanting “Reclaim Hong Kong, Revolution of our time!”
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The main protest along Nathan Rd. Catalan flags and chants of “Hong Kongers resist!” 香港人反抗
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HK High School students formed human chains connecting high schools across town before school this morning to draw attention to the protesters’ cause (Thread of photos/videos)
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Protesters continue to march in Central at lunchtime after police have fired tear gas & departed.
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HK waking to news of mass arrests of pro-democracy politicians for conducting a primary election which is being called an act of “subversion” under the national security law. Total numbers arrested not yet clear, but it seems to be dozens.
[Just In] Former lawmakers James To, Andrew Wan, Lam Cheuk Ting were arrested by police national security branch this morning for last yr legislature election. Police said “35+” (winning the majority in LegCo election) was an act of SUBVERSION, in violation of the NSL.
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In Legco Pro-BJ Starry Lee, having illegally occupied the Chair seat, is now issuing warnings to Pan-Dem legislators for breaching laws governing LegCo procedures. In the past this has led to arrests & criminal charges for the democrats, let's see if that happens again today...
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HK Govt thinks PLA policing HK streets is ok because it was on a “purely voluntary” basis. More nonsense from a govt that likes to bang on about the rule of law but only when it suits them. Does the garrison law have an exemption for “purely voluntary”? If not, this was illegal.
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Seeing it put like this really brings into sharp focus how Kafkaesque this all is.
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Many HK protesters are convinced that police beat people to death at Prince Edward station in the “8.31 Incident“.
@FactWireWorld
has conducted detailed investigation; their conclusion: “After 3 months of investigations, we could not conclude that nobody died.”
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If this is a formal/official position, then this completely & fundamentally alters the landscape of the HK legal system and could quite legitimately be said to mean the end of the rule of law as we know it in HK.
#Breaking
China’s legislature: Hong Kong courts have no power to rule on constitutionality of the city’s legislation with regards to Basic Law, after HK High Court nullified face mask ban. A major contradiction of common-law judicial review in HK
@zuibrahim
@hkchrislau
@alvinllum
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This 2015 article by legal scholar
@ayhcheung
explains why technically under the Basic Law the NPC should NOT be able to legislate a national security law for HK...but then BJ clearly no longer cares about HK’s rule of law. 1/3
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Armed attack on 3 ppl (all hospitalised, 1 in critical condition) gets 3 yrs 9 mos jail. Bear that in mind as we see future sentences for protesters for non-violent crimes eg unlawful assembly. And the political commentary from the bench that protesters were "like an army".
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A huge crowd on Chatham Rd chanting 救理大 “Save PolyU!” approaches police lines in TST East
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Important point here from
@galileocheng
: this ties directly to 1 of the 5 Demands. BACKGROUND: After police chief described 6.12 protest as a “riot” & there was an outcry from protesters, govt first said that using the term in a press conference had no legal significance. 1/3
Judgement of first riot case of June 12th, 2020 - DCCC783/2019[2020] HKDC 337 HKSAR v. SIN KA HO. The five demands called by
#antiELAB
#HongKongProtests
protesters includes revoke the rioting stance of June 12 & latter expanding to all clashes
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HK government is now wanting to police what journalists can & can't say on political grounds. Press freedom was already under serious threat in HK and it looks like it will only get worse.
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Impossible to capture the scale of the protests at
@hkairport
right now as they fill the entirety of the vast arrivals hall.
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Last Oct: HK govt used emergency laws to BAN mask wearing at public gatherings. Today: "Ho on Monday urged the HK govt to set up emergency laws making mask wearing mandatory in all public places."
#Coronavirus
: Make masks mandatory and step up social-distancing enforcement, top
#HongKong
microbiologist urges government
#Covid_19
#COVID19
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Epic scenes at
@CUHKofficial
. But what on earth are police trying to achieve here? They’re assaulting a university like it’s some kind of strategic military target.
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Police have trapped dozens of protesters next to Southorn Playground and are in process of arresting them.
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CORRECTED: This is the 2nd time (HT
@DoomConnoisseur
!) PLA have left barracks in HK (first time was Tyhpoon Mangkhut cleanup). From “Baby steps” to normalized?
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Beyond the obvious idiocy of firing tear gas indoors, you really have to wonder what exactly was the point of this? Tear gas is supposed to get crowds to disperse. Where are people supposed to disperse TO when they are INSIDE A FUCKING SUBWAY STATION?
Another angle shows Hong Kong police firing tear gas within Kwai Fong MTR Station.
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Framing HK's democracy movt as a national security threat & invoking the spectre of "foreign forces" enables BJ to justify their intervention as related to "foreign affairs" & "defence", the only 2 areas BJ can technically interfere in HK. It enables BJ to justify any action...
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Teaching the elders how to do the youngsters’ protest sign language. All the elders joining in.
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As is very visible in the video (in below tweet)+below photo, yesterday’s Pro-BJ DAB takeover of LegCo was clearly pre-arranged with & assisted by LegCo security, who are no longer neutral arbiters but effectively serving as BJ’s enforcers inside Legco.
Legco security guards escort Pro-BJ Starry Lee to the chair (which she is not entitled to be occupying) while at the same time physically preventing the Pan-Dem legislators getting near to stop her.
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Battling tear gas with wok covers has definitely become a thing after Wong Tai Sin last night.
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Very alarming. If this report is accurate, it signals a major crisis point for HK’s rule of law & judicial independence. You can’t have different rules of law for different issues, nor pick & choose among which of your judiciary you consider reliable.
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THREAD: Martin Lee, 81yo democratic party founder, said "he was prosecuted under the suspicion of organising & participating in an unauthorised march at Victoria Park on August 18" last year. LET'S LOOK BACK at what that August 18 protest was like. 1/5
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This video sums up where HK is right now. Yes, large scale protests have been stopped - but the spirit of resistance is unbroken.
Saved this video from yesterday - I didn't want it to get lost in the fray.
Watch as this young man starts a solo rendition of Glory to Hong Kong and moments later is joined by a chorus of voices from people on the street.
It's beautiful.
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A lot of people seem to be without gear or caught by surprise, and are suffering from effects of tear gas and water cannon’s pepper water
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When tear gas shell comes in, they place a traffic cone on top creating a “chimney” to stop the gas spreading; then pour water into the chimney to douse the shell.
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This letter is astounding overreach & an exact demonstration of fears expressed when this injunction was granted that it would be a direct threat to online freedom of speech. This goes even beyond my fears last Nov when I first wrote about it here:
District councillor Lester Shum says he got 'intimidation letter' from DoJ asking me to delete FB post, in which he accused
#HongKongPolice
of killing an university student, Alex Chow, in Tseung Kwan O last Nov."There should be no 'speech crime' in
#HongKong
, & I won't delete it"
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BJ: HKers promoting Yellow Economic Circle shops "ignored the rules of the free market".
HK Commerce Secretary: "Hong Kongers have emotional ties with Ocean Park - whether it's profitable or not."
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Proud to see HK is world-leader in containing virus *so far*. Credit goes to high community awareness + robust civil society (vigorous media, academic freedom & medical profession unafraid to speak out). Those same civil society actors now warning HKers not be become complacent.
Latest case trajectories for major countries:
• US cases continue to soar. Unquestionably the worst outbreak in the world
Reporting from
@yuanfenyang
& co on whether you can trust the Chinese data:
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After the museums, the WHO team visited a porcelain factory & found the bus would not depart until sufficient purchases had been made from the gift shop, & then for lunch they were taken to a restaurant owned by the tour guide’s brother-in-law.
WHO's team of experts visited Jinyintan hospital on Sat morning, which was one of the first hospitals to treat Covid-19 patients. On the second day of their to Wuhan, the team visit museums before having more discussions this evening, GT has learned.
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Key principle of Basic Law/1C2S is that Mainland does NOT have jurisdiction over HK. So “mainland will need jurisdiction over ‘extremely rare cases’” = Basic Law will be breached in “extremely rare cases”. As I have said before, Basic Law now means whatever BJ wants it to mean.
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HKers enthusiastically voting in pan-democrat primaries this weekend. When basic freedoms are evaporating before your eyes, you realize just how precious the right to vote is. Wherever you are in the world, people, if you have the right to vote, treasure it & exercise it.
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Lam arrested for “riot” when he was among those attacked by white-shirted thugs at Yuen Long station on 7.21.
Hong Kong police have arrested lawmakers Ted Hui and Lam Cheuk-ting Tuesday over a protest in Tuen Mun last year, the Democratic Party said in a FB post. Mr. Lam has also been charged over rioting in a mob attack in the Yuen Long subway station last July, the party said.
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When you see human chains of scores of young middle-class professionals passing chunks of brick from hand to hand up to a footbridge to be thrown at police, you know something in a society is broken...
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Guides to the hand signals (below) had been circulated online over past few weeks.
(I wrote about these & other new HK protest strategies for
@NewStatesman
here: )
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HK police protecting China’s national security by...(checks notes)...tackling to the ground a 12yo girl out with her family shopping for school art supplies.
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Excellent overview of the judicial process awaiting the thousands of arrested HK protesters, by
@AngelineChanHK
of
@HongKongPLG
: “The courts are not designed to & indeed are unable to address the massive social resentment that lies behind these protest cases.”
Protest and punishment: How thousands of demonstrators are set to face Hong Kong’s court system
@angelinechanhk
#HongKong
#China
#antielab
#antiELABhk
#HongKongProtests
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Increasing numbers of office workers coming out in lunch hour to join this protest in Central. As they join, most reflexively put on face masks to hide their identity, a sad comment on today’s HK that people are afraid to exercise their freedoms of speech & assembly publicly.
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HK Police: We want your respect. We have obtained a court order to stop you “intimidating, molesting, harassing, threatening, pestering or interfering” with us.
Also HK Police:
A disable guy hurt my
#HKPoliceTerrorism
The
#protester
and the first aider is trying to help.
#HKers
#StandWithHongKong
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Disney Execs: “Sure, this Mulan thing is turning out to be a bit of a disaster in the West, but we‘ll more than make up for it with the China box off-... Oh.”
Exclusive: China bars media coverage of Disney's 'Mulan' after Xinjiang backlash - sources
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Great to see Brian Leung’s speech on the 1 July LegCo storming featured by
@Speakola_
(and check out their archive of great speeches ranging from from the uplifting & inspiring to the less edifying but hilarious)
Almost a modern day moment from Les Miserables. Except it's Hong Kong, and the student leader is the very brave and unmasked Brian Leung.
Delivered during storming of legislature July 1st last year.
He is now in exile in the USA.
#HongKongProtests
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The latest in HK-style democracy looks like it’s all going according to plan...
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This is quite jaw-dropping: according to HK Govt statement, unacceptable behaviors for a candidate include “EXPRESSING AN OBJECTION IN PRINCIPLE to the enactment of the National Security Law by the NPC SC” (caps added)
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Thread on the latest from inside
#PolyU
- as the siege continues situation will become increasingly untenable for those stuck inside. What happens then?
got hold of Ken Woo, the acting president of
#PolyU
's student union who is still on campus, earlier. he accuses
@hkpoliceforce
of creating a humanitarian crisis in the university by forcing the students to a dead end:
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It literally feels like the entire city has come out to demand Lam’s resignation. How can she possibly stay in the face of this?
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When the protesters were chased by the police across Salisbury Rd. where all the “school bus” cars are backed up waiting to ferry protesters, all the cars started tooting their horns to distract the police.
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As huge diverse crowds join this march, want to emphasize for those who STILL don’t get it: This is NOT a bunch of people upset because they can’t get on the housing ladder. This is a broad cross-section of HK’s mainstream. I daresay many of them own at least one apartment.
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I write about HK protest in the age of coronavirus for
@ForeignPolicy
: "Activism and dissent continue in Hong Kong, and while it has been taking a different form in the coronavirus era, the legacy of the 2019 protests continues to influence events in 2020."
China destroyed public trust in Hong Kong. Now, Hong Kongers are overwhelmingly crediting themselves for containing the coronavirus to just over 1,000 cases.
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It still amazes me to watch these groups of young Hong Kongers holding their hands on their hearts & singing “Glory to Hong Kong” with a degree of fervor & solemnity Beijing can’t get even when threatening them with criminal consequences... (Video from Yuen Long, Saturday)
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Very excited to announce that my next book "City on Fire: The Fight for Hong Kong" will be published by the wonderful Scribe
@scribepub
@ScribeUKbooks
in early 2020. Scribe's announcement is here: (And now, if you'll excuse me, I have a book to write...)
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A large group of local South Asian residents watch front lines in TST. They have lived in HK several years, say they support the protesters, disagree with the violence, esp attacks on police, but the violence has not changed their support of protesters.
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The correct headline should be: BEIJING EXTENDS DIRECT RULE IN HONG KONG.
Beijing gives Hong Kong power to bypass courts in unseating lawmakers: sources via
@scmpnews
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HERE IT IS. Key para 6: Authorise NPCSC to formulate law on perfecting national security legal system & enforcement mechanism, to be added to Annex III of Basic Law & applied in HK by way of promulgation [i.e. bypassing Legco]. Separately HK must also enact its own Art 23 law.
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Is HK the only city in the world where civil unrest consists of people protesting in office attire with an Hermès store in the background?
Flash mob in central HK chanting ‘5 Demands, not one less’, after opposition’s stunning victory in local elections.
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Back of this first aider’s helmet reads: “Do NOT resuscitate if severely wounded and unresponsive. Hand written will in pocket.”
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#YellowEconomy
: “Zuitable has for months been giving out free shirts & trousers for protesters due to appear in court...[Mark] & his fellow owner Echo decided...to make use of their expertise in tailoring so that defendants can make a good impression on a magistrate or judge.”
Pro-protest Zuitable offers tailor-made response to the plight of Hong Kong’s young demonstrators
@chingrachelwong
#HongKong
#HongKongProtests
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The young people are handing out crackers and water to the elderly folks marching. In return elders are telling the young folks to stay safe.
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Under fire from police tear gas, the crowd retreats down a narrow side street. To avoid a lethal stampede, they all chant in unison “1, 2, 1, 2...!” and march in time to the chant.
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Finally, here comes a runner bringing the requested helmets up the supply line, acknowledged by a polite round of applause.
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Well this is a new umbrella technique: fanning the gas away...
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My new book, "City on Fire: The Fight for Hong Kong" will be published by
@scribepub
on 16 March. You can read an excerpt here: & you can pre-order (with free delivery in Australia) here: (also available via Amazon+Book Depository).
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These “silver haired” marchers are so cheerful and they LOVE having their photos taken...
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PRC flags being flown on a Ferrari shows you pretty much everything you need to know about the kind of privilege aggressive pro-China counter-protesters overseas come from.
Mainland Chinese call young protesters in
#Hongkong
as “useless teens” - born poor, stay poor, can never afford to buy overpriced properties jerked up by Chinese corruption $. The display of luxury cars in
#Vancouver
is to emphasize that HKer r the losers n that’s y they protest.
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BREAKING via Geremie Barmé
@chinaheritage
: “Friends in Beijing report that this morning, local time, Professor Xu Zhangrun was formally detained. Some ten police vehicles and dozens of police officers were involved in the operation.” More details:
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Chains? Really??? He's 72 years old, what do they think he's gonna do, make a sudden desperate dash for freedom?
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