Hong Kong Protest

Hundreds of thousands of protesters have filled the streets of Hong Kong in a mass show of support for an anti-government movement.

The protest march was two-mile-long. The organisers estimated that 800,000 people participated in Sunday’s march

There were chants of  “Reclaim Hong Kong, Revolution of our time!” Some chanted “Five demands, not one less!”, referring to a set of as-yet-unfulfilled political demands, including democratic reforms and an independent investigation into police brutality. Others directed their hostility towards riot police officers who were standing guard, calling them “dogs” and chanting “Hong Kongers, revenge!”, while making obscene gestures at them. 

Some protesters spray-painted anti-China graffiti on a Bank of China building while others attacked a pro-Beijing bank. A Starbucks cafe, run by a franchise company seen as pro-China, was also vandalised. As darkness fell, tensions escalated as riot police and a large group of militant protesters confronted each other in Central, the end point of the protest route. Black-clad protesters occupied a major thoroughfare and got behind makeshift barricades built with plastic roadside barriers, umbrellas, metal sheets and bamboo poles.

“So long as there is no ‘one man one vote’, people cannot use civilised means of toppling an unqualified ruler,” said a 49-year-old teacher who was marching with his two children. “I don’t endorse violence, but I understand people’s frustration because they have lost faith in the rule of law.”

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/dec/08/hong-kong-democracy-protests-continue-into-seventh-month