China Says Hong Kong Protests Show ‘First Signs of Terrorism’
Posted: August 13, 2019 Filed under: Asia, Breaking News, Global, Hong Kong | Tags: Beijing, Pro-Democracy, protests Leave a comment
BEIJING— Chun Han Wong reports: Chinese authorities condemned violent weekend demonstrations in Hong Kong as “deranged” acts that marked the emergence of “the first signs of terrorism” in the semiautonomous city, vowing a merciless crackdown on the perpetrators.
The escalating rhetoric from Beijing followed a day of heated protests in Hong Kong, including the hurling of petrol bombs, and came as thousands of protesters gathered at Hong Kong’s international airport on Monday, prompting officials to cancel all flights for the rest of the day apart from those already en route to the air-travel hub.
“Radical Hong Kong protesters have repeatedly used extremely dangerous tools to attack police officers,” a spokesman for the Chinese government’s Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office told a news briefing on Monday, according to Chinese state media. “The first signs of terrorism are starting to appear.”
On Sunday, police in riot gear fired tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse crowds of protesters across Hong Kong, some of whom threw bricks and what police identified as Molotov cocktails and smoke bombs. Police said an officer was hospitalized with burns to his legs after being hit by a Molotov cocktail hurled by a protester.
The spokesman, Yang Guang, expressed “intense condemnation” for such “deranged and severe criminal activities committed without regard for the consequences.” Such violence must be severely punished, “without leniency, without mercy,” he said …. (read more)
Source: WSJ
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