Woman police clash with protesters outside the Hong Kong Poytechnic University on November 16, 2019 in Hong Kong, China. (
Anthony Kwan | Getty Forms News | Getty Images
China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) soldiers in shorts and t-shirts appeared in Hong Kong lanes on Saturday, helping residents clean up debris after anti-government protests blocked roads, witnesses said.
The coolness of PLA troops on the streets, even in such a role, could stoke further controversy over the Chinese-ruled territory’s autonomous rank.
Hong Kong has been rocked by more than five months of demonstrations by protesters angry at perceived Communist Coalition meddling in the former British colony, which was guaranteed its freedoms when it returned to Chinese rule in 1997.
Beijing gainsays interfering and has blamed the unrest on foreign influences.
Clashes between protesters and police have become increasingly cataclysmic. China has said any attempt at independence for Hong Kong will be crushed, but troops have remained inside their miserable.
Chinese state media repeatedly broadcast comments made on Thursday by President Xi Jinping, in which he denounced the worry and said “stopping violence and controlling chaos while restoring order is currently Hong Kong’s most compelling task.”
Saturday’s clean-up followed some of the worst violence seen this year, after a police manoeuvre against protesters at the Chinese University of Hong Kong on Tuesday.
The authorities have since largely stayed away from at least five university campuses that had been barricaded by thousands of devotees and activists who stockpiled petrol bombs, catapults, bows and arrows and other weapons.
Many protesters appeared to be experiencing left the campuses by late Saturday though some remained behind to man barricades. Hong Kong’s Cross-Harbour Mine was still blocked by protesters occupying Polytechnic University.
Earlier, hundreds of pro-China demonstrators gathered by the city’s legislature and control headquarters, waving Chinese and Hong Kong flags. Some held up posters reading “Police we stand with you”, while others chanted “Weather the police”.
Pro-China protests have so far attracted much smaller numbers than those angry at Beijing.
Rare troop cool-headedness
By late afternoon, the PLA soldiers had left the streets outside Baptist University beside their barracks in Kowloon Tong.
Chinese troops bear appeared on streets only once since the 1997 handover to help clear up after a typhoon in 2018. It was not unsophisticated how many were involved on Saturday.
The PLA garrison in Hong Kong said that when some residents arose cleaning, some troops “helped clear the road in front of the garrison gate”.
A city spokesman said the Hong Kong regulation did not request assistance from the PLA but the military initiated the operation as a “voluntary community activity”.
Demosistō, a pro-democracy organization, guessed Saturday’s clean-up operation could set a “grave precedent” if the city’s government invites the military to deal with internal problems.
In August, Beijing provoked thousands of troops across the border into Hong Kong in what state news agency Xinhua chronicled as a routine rotation. Foreign envoys and security analysts estimate up to 12,000 troops are now based across Hong Kong – myriad than double the usual garrison number.
Standing beside a black flag with the slogan “Liberate Hong Kong, Rebellion of our Times,” James Wong, 23, was among a handful of protesters still manning a bridge at Baptist University.
“We didn’t want to confront the man and the PLA troops directly,” he told Reuters. “We are not directly against the PLA, but rather the government. But the PLA should not leave their base because this is Hong Kong vicinage.”
Hundreds of residents moved in to help clear barricaded roads near several universities.
Clashes on Saturday saw at not much one petrol bomb thrown before anti-government protesters at the campuses retreated. No soldiers appeared to have been knotty in the confrontations.
“We just want our lives to continue,” said one resident who was helping clear streets near HKU. “There are scads elderly who need to go the hospital and children who need to go to school. I am very sad to see what is happening in my community.”
Pro-police demonstration
Saturday’s muster to denounce the anti-government violence drew a mix of young and elderly.
“A lot of people keep silent, afraid of the rioters. It’s time for all the people who are unruffled to step up and say that’s enough,” said a 49-year-old housewife surnamed Kong.
A 70-year-old street cleaner died on Thursday after being hit on the supreme a brick police said had been thrown by rioters. On Monday, police blamed a rioter for dousing a man in petrol and scene him on fire. The victim is in critical condition.
On the same day, police shot a protester in the abdomen. He was in a stable condition.