If we knew how to protest peacefully like this and with these numbers we might be able to get our politicians to start working for us again. This is how it's done folks...
Your fake MSM news filtered out the violent part of these protests. If Americans are protesting like this, the cops have killed at least 100 already.
Are you a mouthpiece for the Chinese state communist party? Because it sure as hell sounds like you are.
Laughable... Recent polls say the opposite: https://amp.scmp.com/news/hong-kong...hongkongers-obsessed-singapore-even-they-give Rivalry doesn't equal to hatred, more like mutual envy/admiration. Having worked in Singapore for a long time, general sentiment here is very positive to Hong Kongers. Singapore with its low birth rate and long term ambitions to grow its working base is highly dependent on immigrants and attracting skilled labor. After Malaysian Chinese, Taiwanese and HKers are probably culturally the most similar to the majority Chinese population in Singapore, which the make them ideal immigrants.
Yeah not en masse at 1 go. Land wise there is still more land for large scale development; (due to extreme land micromanagement of existing built up areas); but it takes a long time to get all the infra and amenities up to comfortably accommodate so many people without affecting quality of life for the rest. Singapore will vie with other developed countries to attract their best/ brightest/ richest; they've learned from the 2000s when they brought in too many immigrants too quickly and the existing infra couldn't keep up.
I'm not sure; as long as dissenting sentiment isn't spreading to the mainland (and it doesn't appear to be), the pressure on PRC to end the protests quickly isn't high. One of the challenges the movement has is that without a leader to make decisions or negotiate a compromise, there doesn't seem to be a clear end game, and short of being granted full independence (which obviously wont happen), it's not clear that any other concession the PRC makes will bring and end to the protests. They've already halted the extradition bill but protests haven't let up. Their best course of action may be to continue status quo, and hope opinion within hk splinters and this fizzles out.
You have the nerve to talk about things being “fake” when that’s all you’re pumping out here about Hong Kong? Facebook and Twitter just closed a truckload of fake accounts, pages, propaganda, real Fake News, being posted by agents of the Chinese Regime in Hong Kong in an attempt to portray the protesters exactly the way you are attempting to portray them here. Either you are full of it, with all respect due, or you are helping Xi’s PRC to do the same thing, right here. That’s truly bizarre. You’re swimming in a toilet and it stinks. We don’t need your smell. We really don’t.
Surprised to see a Hong Kong protest thread here in clutchfans. Please feel free to ask me anything if you have any question about the protest. I will be more than happy to share what's been going on here from a local perspective.
In case you didn't know much about what's been going on in Hong Kong, here are a few things about the protest: - Hong Kong was a British colony for 150-ish years. In 1997, Britiain handed Hong Kong over to China but China agreed to retain its characteristics and allowed Hong Kong to govern itself, i.e. independent judiciary, freedom of speech etc., for 50 years. That's why it is legal to protest in Hong Kong. - What sparked the protest was an extradition bill introduced by the government which would allow the Chinese government to snatch anyone they want in Hong Kong, especially the "political dissidents", to China for trial. People here have no confidence in the Chinese legal system and are very worried that it could be the end of freedom for Hong Kong. - Now that the bill is dead, the focus of the protest has been shifted to universal suffrage and police brutality. The extradition bill was only a tipping point, what underlies it were a series of Chinese intervention over the last couple of years, such as the abduction of booksellers who sold anti-Chinese books, the disqualification of anti-Chinese parliament members, the expulsion of foreign journalists, couple with a very incompetent government, many felt that Hong Kong desperately needs universal suffrage to change the situation. - The protest still has a widespread support in the territories. Recent opinion poll shows 70% of the population support the protest. Last Sunday nearly 2 million people turn up in a march for democracy.
Just a couple of updates about the situation today: - 3 protesters were stabbed by a middle aged man with mainland accent last night. 1 of them is in critical situation. No arrest has been made so far. - Pro-democracy parliament member revealed a CCTV footage of 2 police officers torturing a detained man. - Protesters are calling for a "human chain" across Hong Kong on the 30th anniversary of the Baltic Way.
No, actually the energy level hasn't died down at all. The protesters got a little wind at their back and I can tell you the morale is higher than ever. School opening new semester has very minimal impact to the protest IMO because the university students who are the mainstay of the protest are most likely going to ditch classes and they are calling for a massive school boycott in universities and secondary schools. Plus the protest usually happens on weekends. I think this will drag on for a while. Lots of rumors floating around in Hong Kong say Beijing wants it end before early Sep. We'll see how it plays out.
Sources say in order to further distant themselves from mainland and promote living the American way, protesters will stop using tap water, and drink bottled water instead.
@ashleyem what's your sense of the current make-up of the hk police, is it still mostly staffed by people that grew up in hk or has there been an influx of mainlanders over the years? Any thoughts on why the police aren't being more sympathetic to the protestors? Management can give orders, but how rigourously they are carried out is another thing...
My post was made on the day when the airport re-open for business. This is several days after; thanks for the update
The majority of the police force is still local Hong Kong people since the selection process is still conducted in Cantonese and English. (Thank god we speak Cantonese). That ruled out a lot of mainlanders. There have been rumors that Beijing has been secretly sneaking mainland armed police into Hong Kong but hasn't been fact checked. Hong Kong Police loves recruiting people who failed the public examination because they are easier to control and by doing so it prevents those people from joining the gangs. That's why the majority of the frontline police officers, frankly, are the worst educated bunch of people in Hong Kong and don't give a crap about freedom and democracy and see the protesters as trouble-makers. On the other hand, young people here, in retaliation, have been cyberbullying the police, for example finding out police officers who cheated on their wives/girlfriends, spreading memes to mock them etc. As a result many friends and family members of the police turned against them and it fueled their anger towards the protesters.
You're welcome. I'd say the protest at airport did sparked a lot of debates in Hong Kong but I think although some people disagree with this particular action, it hasn't dilute support for the entire protest.
it'd not be far-fetched to say, these thugs are triad members, planted by CCP, beating up on the protester
I have a question about the extradition bill. Is it truly "dead?" Completely withdrawn, or is it "parked on a shelf," ready to return for a pro-Beijing vote if/when the protests die down. I haven't seen an unequivocal official statement that the bill is well and truly off the table. Thanks for the updates.
Are the people of HK worried they are screwed in 2047? I mean, even if you can beat back the PRC influence in 2019... it's only a matter of time until the PRC takes over.. I guess the PRC could fundamentally change in the next 28 years but I don't know how plausible that is.