Читать книгу Rebel City - South China Morning Post Team - Страница 50

Jeffie Lam

A red-letter day in the nation sparked a violent chain of protests culminating in a shooting of a radical teenager.

From his rostrum at Beijing’s Gate of Heavenly Peace, President Xi Jinping stood ready for the ceremonies to mark the 70th anniversary of communist rule. Hundreds of millions watched on television or online what was described as the grandest military parade in the history of the People’s Republic of China, at the very spot where Mao Zedong stood when he declared the founding of the republic on October 1, 1949. Xi was flanked by his predecessors, Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao, as he delivered a short speech praising the accomplishments of the Chinese people over seven decades and pledging to achieve his “Chinese dream” of national rejuvenation and global prominence. “No force can shake the status of our great country, no force can stop the Chinese people and the Chinese nation from marching forward,” he declared.

Among the guests was a smiling Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, Hong Kong’s embattled chief executive, leading a delegation of more than 240 government advisers, professionals, pro-establishment lawmakers and businessmen. In his message, Xi said that China must uphold the principle of “one country, two systems” that promises a high degree of autonomy to Hong Kong while preserving its freedoms and unique way of life following its return to Chinese rule. Also present was Fanny Law Fan Chiu-fan, one of Lam’s advisers in the Executive Council. She was impressed by the patriotism of young Chinese at the military parade. “So many young people in the parade are wearing big smiles and chanting ‘Long live our country’,” she gushed. “I look forward to the day when young people in Hong Kong join the National Day Celebration with the same pride, joy and optimism.”

Around the same time in Hong Kong, however, the scene could not have been more different, as defiant young people had other ideas for October 1, 2019. On social media, the hashtag #NotMyNationalDay caught fire among Hongkongers who branded it a day of mourning. The national flag flew on government buildings and at Beijing-friendly conglomerates and associations, but there were signs of impending trouble from the morning. The official flag-raising proceeded at Golden Bauhinia Square in Wan Chai, but government officials and hundreds of guests moved indoors to watch the ceremony on screens at the nearby Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. The streets near popular tourist spots were empty, shopping malls stayed closed and eight major MTR stations were shut by 11am.

Crowds defied a police ban of a “national grief” march planned by the Civil Human Rights Front and began gathering in Causeway Bay just before noon. Many shouted one of the popular slogans: “Fight for freedom, stand with Hong Kong!” Tens of thousands of black-clad protesters waged guerilla-style battles across the city, with masked mobs attacking police with bricks, petrol bombs, acid bombs and sticks. They set fire to the national flag and burned portraits of Xi and Lam, while spray-painting the gates of state-owned banks with slogans such as “Happy crack-up of ‘Chee-na’” – a derogatory name for China.

Police responded with tear gas and rubber bullets. At Wong Tai Sin in Kowloon, officers fired volleys of tear gas after 2pm to disperse protesters who tried to blockade a main road. There were pitched battles at Tuen Mun, in the New Territories, as protesters hurled umbrellas and various projectiles at police, who chased after the crowd with their batons. The force later condemned their actions, noting how officers had been surrounded by “a large group of rioters” who attacked them with bricks and other hard objects. “The rioters later threw corrosive fluid onto the people at scene, causing burn injuries to the officers and reporters,” the police said.

The fighting was more vicious and intense than in previous days, with the most serious clashes breaking out at about 4pm near Tai Ho Road in Tsuen Wan, in the western part of the New Territories. For the first time in more than four months of anti-government demonstrations, a protester was shot after a police officer was attacked by a mob.

Video footage showed a group of black-clad protesters ambushing and chasing after the officer, who was alone after being separated from his colleagues. The officer fled, holding on to his protective shield, but he fell. The mob began raining blows on him immediately, with at least one protester seen wielding a hammer, while another waved a wrench.

A second officer then ran over to rescue his stricken colleague, but he was stopped by two protesters armed with rods. The officer pointed his service revolver and shouted a warning at the group attacking the man on the ground. When a protester swung at him with a rod, the officer opened fire, hitting his assailant in the chest. Another masked radical lunged forward, but was immediately tackled to the ground and subdued.

Bleeding from the chest, the protester who had been shot called out his Hong Kong identity card number and name. He was Tsang Chikin, an 18-year-old Form Five student. “My chest hurts a lot, I need to go to the hospital,” he said.

By evening, clashes had erupted in at least 12 districts across Hong Kong. Protesters hurled petrol bombs, which started fires on roads, trashed shops and banks linked to the mainland and vandalized government buildings and the offices of pro-establishment politicians. In Mong Kok, police fired warning shots in the air twice after a mob assaulted an officer who had fallen to the ground.

Apart from the shooting of Tsang, police also fired five live rounds as warning shots that day, as well as 1,400 rounds of tear gas, 900 rubber bullets, 190 beanbag rounds and 230 sponge grenades. The force said that 30 officers had been injured, and about 100 petrol bombs had been hurled. A total of 269 people aged between 12 and 71 were arrested that day.

Instead of concern over the mounting violence on all sides, Tsang’s shooting unleashed and concentrated anger at police, sparking a new wave of fiery protests. Critics demanded to know why the officer had shot the teenager in the chest instead of firing a warning shot in the air or aiming at his limbs instead. Students and alumni from the teenager’s school, the Tsuen Wan Public Ho Chuen Yiu Memorial College, staged a sit-in outside the campus the next day, accusing the officer who shot him of “attempted murder,” and demanding an explanation for what happened.

Elsewhere, among office workers at a lunchtime protest in Central was Kathy Chau, 26, an employee of a multinational financial firm who backed the movement. “Doing the right thing is more important than worrying about what my boss or colleagues think of me,” she said at the time. Chau felt that she had to support the protest because the bullet had hit Tsang just centimeters from his heart. “We have been seeing an escalation in police abuse of power over the past few months,” she said.