China Liaison Office Says Protesters Are Jeopardizing
Hong Kong
By
May 2, 2020, 9:12 PM GMT+10
·
Beijing
agency accuses activists of inciting people to protest
·
Violence the reason for
closure of businesses: Liaison Office
A riot police officer holds a
pepper spray aerosol as crowds are dispersed during a protest inside the New
Town Plaza shopping mall in Hong Kong, China, on May 1.
Photographer: Justin Chin/Bloomberg
China’s Liaison Office in Hong Kong accused protesters of
jeopardizing the future of the city, calling demonstrations on Friday “illegal
activities,” in the latest signal that China’s top agency in the city intends
to take a more hands-on role in the semi-autonomous territory.
In a
statement published on Saturday on its website, the Liaison Office said
“extremist radicals” were involved in illegal gatherings, harassment of shops
and throwing of petrol bombs. It accused them of trying to incite people into
taking part in violence at a time when the international community was jointly
battling the coronavirus pandemic.
“Does
Hong Kong have a future, if such malfeasances are let go?” it asked.
China has
taken a more assertive approach since replacing top officials responsible for
Hong Kong earlier this year. The Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, the
Beijing-based agency that oversees the Liaison Office, drew criticism from
local lawyers and opposition lawmakers last month after claiming the bodies
weren’t bound by constitutional provisions against interference in local
affairs agreed before the former British colony’s return to Chinese rule in
1997.
The
Liaison Office said that violence was the reason for a rising wave of business
closures and unemployment in Hong Kong. Negative economic growth and a slipping
in the rankings of the city’s universities shows how the world is losing
confidence in the city, it said.
The office also criticized opposition lawmakers for promoting the
so-called “yellow economy” without regard to free-market rules for the purpose
of gaining seats in the upcoming Legislative Council elections. Protesters
encourage people to boycott pro-China and pro-government businesses, and to
support the “yellow economy” of shops and companies that back their cause.
Fifteen
people, including prominent pro-democracy activists and a lawmaker, were
arrested last month, a move that antagonized protesters who had paralyzed the
city for much of last year and drew fresh condemnation from the U.S. and the
U.K. The coronavirus outbreak essentially brought a halt to social unrest in
the city.
Riot police were deployed across Hong Kong on Friday as anti-government
protesters queued outside local businesses known to support the democracy
movement, Radio Television Hong Kong reported. Police arrested a 15-year-old boy in connection with
the a suspected petrol bomb, RTHK said in a separate report.
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