Police have clashed with protesters on the streets of Hong Kong after after hundreds of thousands of people marched through the city in protest against a proposed extradition law critics say will let Beijing pursue its political enemies. A largely peaceful rally on Sunday outside the parliament and government headquarters changed dramatically in the early hours of Monday as police wearing riot gear moved in with batons and pepper spray on protesters who hurled bottles and metal barricades. Chinese state-run newspapers have blamed the unrest on unnamed 'foreign forces'.
Category Archives: Hong Kong
Vast protest in Hong Kong against extradition law
Critics say law will allow China to pursue political opponents and legitimise abduction
Hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets of Hong Kong in a vast protest against a proposed extradition law that critics say will allow mainland China to pursue its political opponents in the city, which has traditionally been a safe haven from the Communist party.
Police closed metro stations and funnelled people through narrow thoroughfares, prompting accusations that they were deliberately attempting to thwart the protest.
Continue reading...Pollution warnings keep us healthier – but only in the short term
It is not fair to ask people to adapt their lives to dirty air. We need to solve the problem at source
Can telling people about air pollution lessen the impact? A new air quality index was launched in Hong Kong at the end of 2013. This included forecasts and information for vulnerable people; doctors were enlisted to advise their patients too. A new analysis of seven years of data showed that the start of the index was followed by a 16% reduction in the number of children treated in hospital with respiratory infections and pneumonia. This was attributed to parents following official advice to keep their children indoors during smogs. However, the benefit was short-lived and lasted for only about a year. Other studies have also found that people are willing to adapt their lives for short periods to protect themselves but not in the longer term. No effect was seen in elderly people. This was thought to be due to low literacy rates and difficulties in reaching them with information.
Others have criticised indices for focusing on smogs rather than the more harmful exposure to low levels of air pollution every day. Asking people to adapt to poor air pollution may help but we need to solve the problem at source. Our lives should not be further compromised by adapting what we do because of the quality of our air.
Continue reading...Hong Kong extradition bill is ‘terrible blow’ to rule of law, says Patten
Former governor says sending suspects to China for trial will undermine region’s reputation
Hong Kong’s last British governor, Chris Patten, has said a proposed extradition bill allowing suspects to be sent to China for trial is a “terrible blow” to the rule of law and will undermine Hong Kong’s reputation as a global financial hub.
The legal amendments being pushed by the special administrative region’s government would allow case-by-case transfers of people to countries without extradition treaties, including China.
Continue reading...‘No way to stop it’: millions of pigs culled across Asia as swine fever spreads
Experts say region is losing the battle to stop the biggest animal disease outbreak the planet has ever faced
South-east Asia is battling to contain the spread of highly contagious African swine fever, known as “pig Ebola”, which has already led to the culling of millions of pigs in China and Vietnam.
African swine fever, which is harmless to humans but fatal to pigs, was discovered in China in August, where it has caused havoc, leading to more than 1.2m pigs being culled. China is home to almost half of the world’s pigs and the news sent the global price of pork soaring.
Continue reading...Candlelit vigil held in Hong Kong to mark Tiananmen Square massacre – video
Thousands of pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong gathered on Tuesday night to mark 30 years since China's bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Beijing's Tiananmen Square. Hong Kong is the only region under Beijing's jurisdiction that holds significant public commemorations of the 1989 violence. Hong Kong has a degree of freedom not available on the mainland as a legacy of British rule that ended in 1997.
- Tiananmen Square massacre marked with Hong Kong vigil
- Beijing silent as tight security surrounds Tiananmen Square anniversary
- 'We must do more than remember': what Tiananmen means to the Chinese diaspora
Tiananmen Square massacre marked with Hong Kong vigil
More than 100,000 gather for anniversary but many fear for future of commemoration
More than 100,000 people have gathered in Hong Kong for a candlelight vigil to mark the 30th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre.
The event is the biggest and traditionally the only major commemoration of the incident allowed in China. Taiwan also marked the massacre with a vigil and exhibition on “Tank man” – the man photographed standing in front of tanks on 5 June 1989.
Continue reading...Brawl breaks out in Hong Kong parliament – video
A brawl broke out in Hong Kong’s legislature on Saturday as pro-democracy lawmakers and those loyal to China discussed an extradition law that would extend Beijing’s powers over the financial hub. The former British colony is trying to enact rules that would allow people accused of a crime, including foreigners, to be extradited to countries without formal extradition agreements, including mainland China where they could face vague national security charges and unfair trials
Continue reading...Hong Kong lawmakers scuffle in parliament
One person apparently fainted during melee prompted by row over extradition law
Hong Kong’s legislative assembly descended into chaos on Saturday as lawmakers for and against amendments to the territory’s extradition law clashed over access to the chamber.
At least one lawmaker was taken from the chamber on a stretcher after apparently fainting during the morning melee, in which legislators pushed and shoved each other on the floor and in an adjoining hallway.
Continue reading...Hong Kong culls 6,000 pigs after African swine fever found
Incurable virus detected in a pig imported from Guangdong province in mainland China
Hong Kong will cull 6,000 pigs after its first ever case of African swine fever was found in an animal at a slaughterhouse close to the border with mainland China.
Related: African swine fever hits Chinese pork industry in run-up to New Year
Continue reading...Hong Kong residents protest at plans for extradition to China
Residents fear law will allow Beijing to demand Hong Kong hand over political dissidents
Tens of thousands of Hong Kong residents have taken to the streets to demand their government halt a plan that would make it easier to extradite people to the secretive judicial system in mainland China.
The march organisers estimated that more than 100,000 people filed through central Hong Kong on Sunday. Police said the march drew 22,800 people at its peak.
Continue reading...High-density megacities: the photographs of Michael Wolf
Hong Kong-based photographer Michael Wolf is best known for Architecture of Density, which shows the city’s tower blocks as dramatic geometric abstractions, and Tokyo Compression, which captures rush hour on the Japanese capital’s subway. He died this week aged 64
Continue reading...‘Umbrella nine’ Hong Kong pro-democracy leaders sentenced to jail
Campaigners responsible for the largest civil disobedience in Hong Kong’s history face up to 16 months in prison
A group of Hong Kong pro-democracy activists have been sentenced to prison for their role in the Umbrella Movement protests, with two of its leaders jailed for 16 months.
A district court judge jailed sociology professor Chan Kin-man, 60, law professor Benny Tai, 54, and Baptist minister the Rev Chu Yiu-ming, 75, to 16 months each for conspiracy to commit public nuisance. Chu’s sentence was suspended for two years.
Continue reading...Hong Kong real estate now more expensive for the dead than the living
A tiny nook for an urn can cost up to £180,000. With 200,000 sets of ashes waiting for a resting place, the city is running out of options
“Per square foot, it has become more expensive to house the dead than the living,” says Kwok Hoi Pong, chairman of the Hong Kong Funeral Business Association. “A niche for an urn in a private columbarium in the best position can cost up to HK$1.8m. This is the phenomenon in Hong Kong.”
A ground burial plot can cost anywhere between HK$3m (£300,000) and HK$5m, but in the city’s congested cemeteries, vacancies rarely become available. Land is so scarce that 90% of the 48,000 people a year who die in Hong Kong are cremated. But increasingly finding the space even to store ashes is becoming nigh on impossible.
Continue reading...Backpacker charged after woman finds hidden camera in Bondi hostel bathroom
Hong Kong man, 36, allegedly hid camera inside a deodorant stick which his French roommate spotted after she finished showering
A tourist from Hong Kong is behind bars after allegedly hiding a camera inside a deodorant stick in the bathroom of a hostel at Sydney’s famous Bondi Beach.
The man’s roommate – a woman on holiday from France – had just finished showering when she spotted the camera and a toiletry bag on the sink of their shared ensuite on Monday night.
Continue reading...‘Now I own my life’: Saudi sisters who fled family granted asylum
Pair, given asylum in undisclosed country, faced recriminations in kingdom
Two Saudi sisters who say they were beaten and treated like slaves by their brothers and father have been granted asylum in an undisclosed country.
The women, aged 18 and 20, ran away from their family last September while on holiday in Sri Lanka and have been stranded in Hong Kong since an abandoned attempt to reach Australia, where they hoped to secure asylum.
Continue reading...Hong Kong to build one of world’s largest artificial islands
Government says it needs extra land around main island of Lantau for housing
Hong Kong plans to build one of the world’s largest artificial islands, city officials have announced.
The government’s HK$624bn (£60bn) proposal to reclaim 1,000ha of land around the territory’s largest island, Lantau, has been touted as a solution to the pressing housing shortage in the city, which is notorious as one of the least affordable markets on the planet.
Continue reading...How public transport actually turns a profit in Hong Kong
The Hong Kong MTR’s ‘rail plus property’ model keep fares cheap and makes the company completely self-sustaining. Could loss-making metro systems in other cities learn lessons?
“Once we build the railway, the value of land rises and we capture the increase in value,” says Jacob Kam, managing director and soon-to-be chief executive, of Hong Kong’s Mass Transit Railway (MTR) Corporation.
Related: Hong Kong faces commuter chaos after rare train collision
Continue reading...‘A race against time’: urban explorers record vanishing Hong Kong
From Bruce Lee’s mansion to Bauhaus-style Central Market, HK Urbex are documenting the fast-changing city’s fading heritage
“We just had to hop the fence. It was kind of easy,” says Ghost, co-founder of HK Urbex, as he explains how the urban explorer group gained access to the former mansion of late martial arts superstar Bruce Lee.
Wearing masks to protect their identities, the group circled the abandoned home in Hong Kong’s upscale Kowloon Tong neighbourhood three times to make sure the coast was clear. As one member stood out front to keep watch, another leapt over the back fence. Twenty minutes later they were out again – another successful urban mission accomplished.
Continue reading...Saudi sisters trapped in Hong Kong fear for their lives: ‘We would be executed’ – video
Two sisters who fled Saudi Arabia and have been in hiding in Hong Kong for nearly six months say they did so to escape beatings at the hands of their brothers and father. The pair say they have renounced their Muslim faith, and that Saudi diplomats intercepted them at the airport in Hong Kong and prevented them from boarding a connecting flight to Australia
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