Category Archives: Hong Kong

British government’s Hong Kong intervention riles China

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Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary, underlines ‘one country, two systems’ in call to Carrie Lam, the Hong Kong chief executive

China has lashed out at the British foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, after he spoke to Hong Kong’s leader about protests that have morphed from a campaign against a controversial extradition bill into rolling street demonstrations demanding electoral reforms.

Raab spoke to Hong Kong’s chief executive, Carrie Lam, and stressed the need for “meaningful political dialogue and a fully independent investigation into recent events as a way to build trust” in the territory, the UK Foreign Office said.

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‘P is for protest’: Hong Kong families take to the streets in pro-democracy rally

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Event billed as rally to ‘guard our children’s future’ given permit by authorities, unlike others planned for weekend

Armed with balloons and strollers, several hundred families took to the streets in Hong Kong on Saturday to show support for pro-democracy protests that are now in their third month.

The colourful and calm atmosphere at the rally was a far cry from the increasingly violent confrontations that have marked recent demonstrations by activists calling for greater freedoms in the city.

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Hong Kong protests: Carrie Lam says priority is to stop violence

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City’s leader rules out political concessions as demonstrations continue with sit-in at airport

Hong Kong’s chief executive, Carrie Lam, has said her priority is to “stop the violence” rather than make political concessions, as the city’s two-month-long protest movement pressed on with a demonstration at the airport.

Lam said traffic disruptions and confrontations between police and protesters had hurt the economy, particularly the retail and food and beverage sectors. The demonstrations, however, are not abating and more are planned for this weekend, including at the airport, where protesters holding signs staged a sit-in at the arrival and departure halls on Friday.

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US calls China ‘thuggish regime’ for targeting American diplomat who met Hong Kong protesters

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Anger at release of diplomat’s personal information as Hong Kong police bring back police chief who handled 2014 Occupy protests

A US official has described China as a “thuggish regime” for disclosing personal details about a US diplomat who met student leaders involved in Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement.

The denunciation came as the US became the latest country to issue a travel alert to the territory on Thursday, and Hong Kong’s police force brought out of retirement a senior officer who led the police response to the 2014 Occupy movement.

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Hongkongers stage ‘laser show’ to protest against arrests – video

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Protesters in Hong Kong gathered to support the use of laser pointers in demonstrations after a university student leader was arrested for buying and carrying laser pointers. Police had sought to justify the arrest of Keith Fong, head of the Baptist University student union, by showing how one of the lasers could burn through newspaper. Fong was arrested on suspicion of carrying offensive weapons

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Hong Kong protests: Australia issues travel alert as China warns of worst crisis since 1997

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Australia tells tourists there is a risk of violence between protesters and police or ‘criminally linked individuals’

Australians travelling to Hong Kong have been warned to exercise a “high degree of caution” as China said Hong Kong was facing its worst crisis since the former British colony was handed back in 1997.

The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Dfat) said: “There is a risk of violent confrontation between protesters and police, or criminally linked individuals, particularly at unauthorised protests.” Ireland, the UK, and Japan have all issued Hong Kong travel warnings since July.

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Hong Kong’s peace prospects recede amid teargas and smoke

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As protests intensify it is hard to see how deadlock can end without death or serious injury

Over the last few weeks, protesters in Hong Kong have taken to spraypainting traffic barriers, bridges, police stations and more with the words: “If we burn, you burn with us.”

On Monday, much of the city burned under clouds of teargas, hails of rubber bullets, and fires lit by angry protesters facing off against riot police. Protesters and a group of men brawled on the street, hitting each other with wooden rods and traffic cones. In another neighbourhood, two people were knifed. Three cars rammed through crowds of protesters, injuring one person.

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Hong Kong protesters hold ‘first civil press conference’ – video

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Masked Hongkongers have staged their first press conference, calling for the return of power to the people. 'We are Hong Kong citizens from different positions from the movement,' one masked man said. 'This is the first civil press conference of Hong Kong – by the people, for the people.' The city's chief executive, Carrie Lam, had announced this week that the police force would be holding daily press conferences. In response, a group of protesters have 'initiated a citizens' press conference to bring the people’s unheard voice to the public'. 

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Masked Hongkongers dismiss government warnings amid fresh fears of China thugs

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Hongkongers stage first press conference to challenge government’s ‘empty rhetoric’ on protests after fresh clashes

Masked Hongkongers have staged their first press conference, calling for the return of power to the people and the pursuit of democracy, as protest groups and authorities attempt to control the narrative of the events that have shaken the city for more than two months.

“Netizens have initiated the citizens’ press conference, to bring the people’s unheard voice to the public and to highlight the repeated condemnations and empty rhetoric presented by the HKSAR [Hong Kong special administrative region] government,” said an unidentified speaker wearing a yellow hard hat, which has become a symbol of the protest movement, accompanied by a sign language translator.

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Hong Kong protesters clash with police and group of armed men

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Citywide general strike descends into chaos as officers fire teargas and rubber bullets

Hong Kong protesters have clashed with police and fought off a group of men armed with poles as political unrest continues to roil the city.

A citywide strike accompanied by rallies in seven districts devolved into chaos on Monday evening as thousands of protesters fanned out across the city, occupying roads, disrupting traffic, and vandalising police stations and other public buildings.

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Hong Kong protests: fights break out and police fire teargas – video

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Chaos erupted on the streets of Hong Kong on Monday as the city entered its ninth consecutive week of anti-government protests. In North Point, protesters clashed with a group of men carrying sticks, while riot police deployed teargas in various parts of the city to disperse demonstrators

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Violence, strikes and chaos as protests sweep Hong Kong – in pictures

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For the ninth consecutive weekend pro-democracy protesters rallied on the streets of Hong Kong against a controversial extradition bill. As clashes between protestors and police became more violent, Hong Kong’s chief executive, Carrie Lam, apologised for introducing the extradition bill and declared it ‘dead’. However protesters – who are calling for Lam’s resignation and for the complete withdrawal of the bill – continued to draw huge crowds

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Hong Kong protesters use flashmob tactics to evade police

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Mass demonstrations continue ahead of city-wide strike and protests in seven districts

Protesters have taken to the streets of Hong Kong for another round of mass anti-government demonstrations as political unrest continues to roil the city.

Ahead of a city-wide strike and simultaneous protests in seven districts, on Sunday night protesters evaded and frustrated the police by holding flashmob demonstrations. Groups of protesters scattered, switching locations at the last minute and disappearing before riot police were able to arrive en masse.

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Hong Kong protests: police arrest more than 20 after violent clashes

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Tense standoffs follow peaceful march with police resorting to teargas and pepper spray on third consecutive day of mass protest

Demonstrators in Hong Kong have clashed with riot police as the city entered its third consecutive day of mass protests.

On Sunday, the police said they had arrested 20 people during Saturday’s clashes for offences including unlawful assembly and assault.

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Hong Kong protesters start fire outside police station – video

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Protesters light a fire on the steps outside a police station in Hong Kong as anti-government discontent continues. Police said a large group of protesters had marked the police station, in one of Kowloon's shopping districts, with paint and damaged a vehicle inside. The police said officers had told demonstrators 'to stop their illegal act at once and disperse peacefully'. Riot police could be seen outside the police stations in Tsim Sha Tsui and Mong Kok.

Hong Kong police fire teargas in clashes with protesters

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Hong Kong protesters risk arrest as Beijing steps up warnings

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Thousands gather in Kowloon as tension mounts in former British colony

Thousands of demonstrators marched in Hong Kong on Saturday, facing the threat of arrest and increasingly severe warnings from Beijing.

Protesters clad head to toe in black, carrying umbrellas and orange helmets, deviated from the route approved by police and took over a major road of the normally busy shopping district of Mongkok. One group held a black banner with the words: “The police have overstepped”, while others chanted for the release of protesters who have been arrested over the last two months of demonstrations.

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Hong Kong civil servants protest in defiance of loyalty order

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Mass walkout from government offices at start of four days of mass demonstrations

Thousands of civil servants in Hong Kong have protested against the government in a rare display of defiance as the city braces for four consecutive days of mass demonstrations.

The public servants, who are normally politically neutral, defied a government order to remain “totally loyal” to Hong Kong’s leader, Carrie Lam, and crowded into a public park near government offices.

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Running dry: the water crisis driving migration to the US – podcast

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Nina Lakhani explores how drought and famine are fuelling the wave of migration from Central America to the US. Plus: Emma Graham-Harrison on China and the Hong Kong protests

Victor Funez walks to a cemetery in Nejapa, El Salvador, every day and fills a three-gallon plastic pitcher with water before trudging home. He repeats this several times a day – it’s his family’s only source of water. The Guardian’s Nina Lakhani met him as part of an investigation into how a lack of access to clean water is a major driver of migration from Central America to the US.

She tells India Rakusen that rising sea levels are destroying coastal towns in Honduras and how drought and famine have prompted a mass exodus from Guatemala. In El Salvador, meanwhile, corporate interests, corruption and gangs worsen the problems caused by the lack of clean water.

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