Demonstrators held a sing-along at Hong Kong’s Admiralty Mall on Friday, defying a heavy police presence to call for independence and fly their banner of “Liberate Hong Kong, Revolution of Our Time.”
Police dispersed the protest on the grounds that it violated coronavirus pandemic regulations against large gatherings. Also on Friday, a pro-democracy legislator was injured when a brawl erupted over control of the chamber.
The Hong Kong Free Press (HKFP) noticed the Admiralty Mall demonstrators displaying a bit of nostalgia for the era of British colonial rule, which is a reliable means of angering pro-Beijing forces in Hong Kong.
The event was organized online and billed as a “Lunch with You” demonstration that would include distributing educational materials about the Wuhan coronavirus, thereby avoiding prohibitions against gatherings of more than eight people during the pandemic.
Before long, as HKFP reported, the demonstrators were putting much more effort into politics than virology:
The group chanted slogans including “Hong Kong independence, the only way out,” “Five demands, not one less” and sang the protest anthem Glory to Hong Kong along with music played on a loudspeaker. Protesters also placed photographs of Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam on the floor, then trampled on them.
Using a loudspeaker from two levels above, police asked the crowd to disperse, claiming the gathering was banned under the Prevention and Control of Disease (Prohibition on Group Gathering) Regulation.
At around 1:15pm more than 50 police officers cleared protesters by cordoning off the area with tape.
The protest was held on the six-month anniversary of the death of Alex Chow, a student who died after falling from a parking garage under murky circumstances at the height of the 2019 protests. Chow has become a symbol of the protest movement, with many members believing he was killed while trying to escape from police tear-gas bombs.
A student journalist named Nelson Tang claimed the police searched and beat him. HKFP correspondents saw officers take him to a police car. Other reports said the police used pepper spray on the protesters. Several people reported being issued fines for violating social distancing rules, including shoppers who said they were not part of the protests.
Over at the Hong Kong legislature, locally known as LegCo, Friday saw the chamber descend into “chaos as lawmakers from opposing sides vied for control of the floor,” as HKFP put it.
The dispute was an argument between pro-democracy and pro-Beijing legislators over committee chairmanships and points of order, essentially resuming political struggles that were put on hold for the coronavirus emergency. Unlike most arguments over who gets to occupy a committee chair, this one featured legislators literally rushing to plant their posteriors in the chairs before opponents could get there.
Pro-democracy legislators accused LegCo security of siding with the Beijing contingent when push came to shove, while the pro-Beijing side claimed the opposition is trying to sabotage the legislative process to delay the passage of bills it disapproves of, notably including a proposal that would make it illegal to “disrespect” the Communist Chinese national anthem.
Ever-quotable pro-democracy legislator Claudia Mo called the winner of that odd little race for the chair, Starry Lee, a “vicious little Beijing worm.” Mo has long regarded the “anthem bill” as the first step in an effort by China to silence dissidents in Hong Kong, warning that the Chinese anthem will only be the first of many things that becomes illegal to “disrespect.”
Several other pro-democracy representatives said they were attacked in “unprovoked and violent assaults” by either pro-Beijing legislators or security guards. One of them, the Democratic Party’s Andrew Wan, left on a stretcher after injuring his back.