Delete
What would be unfortunate is if the military scattered them, allowing them to continue to be a more silent cancer on Chinese society for the rest of their lives and then raising their children to continue the blight.
Well that's the whole point of terrorism; just a small number of people can have a terrible effect.Meh...too small in numbers to make any kind of significant dent to a much larger Chinese population. Their only hope is to move to Taiwan island and raise their anger over there instead. Even that is not guarantee as there a significant number in Taiwan island wants unification with the mainland as well.
Hong Kong airport resumes flights after clashes, mass protests
By Tom Westbrook
,
•August 13, 2019
By Tom Westbrook
HONG KONG, Aug 14 (Reuters) - Hong Kong's airport resumed operations on Wednesday, rescheduling hundreds of flights that had been disrupted over the past two days as protesters clashed with riot police in a deepening crisis in the Chinese-controlled city.
Ten weeks of increasingly violent clashes between police and pro-democracy protesters, angered by a perceived erosion of freedoms, have plunged the Asian financial hub into its worst crisis since it reverted from British to Chinese rule in 1997.
About 30 protesters remained at the airport early on Wednesday while workers scrubbed it clean of blood and debris from overnight. Check-in counters reopened to queues of weary travellers who had waited overnight for their flights.
Police condemned violent acts by protesters overnight and said on Wednesday a large group had "harassed and assaulted a visitor and a journalist". Five people were detained, bringing the total number of people arrested since the protests began in June to more than 600, police said.
Hong Kong's Airport Authority said on Tuesday operations at the city's international airport had been seriously disrupted, as riot police used pepper spray to disperse thousands of black-clad protesters.
The Hang Seng stock index fell to a seven-month low on Tuesday and embattled Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam said the city had been pushed into a state of "panic and chaos".
China condemned some protesters for using dangerous tools to attack police, saying the clashes showed "sprouts of terrorism". The protests represent one of the biggest challenges for Chinese President Xi Jinping since he came to power in 2012.
Demonstrators say they are fighting the erosion of the "one country, two systems" arrangement that enshrined some autonomy for Hong Kong when it returned to China in 1997.
The protests began in opposition to a now-suspended bill that would have allowed the extradition of suspects for trial in mainland China but have swelled into wider calls for democracy.
Check-in operations at the airport were suspended late on Tuesday afternoon, a day after an unprecedented shutdown. Thousands of peaceful protesters had swarmed the arrivals and departures halls earlier on Tuesday, chanting, singing and waving banners.
However, some protesters used luggage trolleys to blockade the doors to customs checkpoints. Protesters also scuffled with police later in the evening and several police vehicles were blocked amid heated scenes, according to Reuters witnesses.
The airport protest is over for now.
Personally, I don't think China will send in the PAP. It's simply not necessary at this point. Sending in PAP is the last resort. First of all, the protesters probably do not have majority support even in Hong Kong, as the anti-protest petition demonstrates:
Secondly, The Chinese and Hong Kong governments have quite a few other options at their dispersal. For example, China can cause more economic pain in Hong Kong by banning mainland tourism. 5 million mainland tourists visit Hong Kong each month. The loss of this revenue (3.9% of Hong Kong's GDP) may push Hong Kong's GDP growth into negative territory and causes a recession. That will surely turn many more Hongkongers against the protests. China can also threatens to cut off the Hong Kong stock market from the Shanghai stock market, which will even scare some of the stock owning Hong Kong elites, like what happened in 2014.
Finally, the Hong Kong government can issue emergency regulations and grant special power to the police, so they can take more decisive actions. Remember, the Hong Kong police force has been very restrained so far, unlike the police force that was under British rule, who opened fire on and killed stone-throwing protesters in 1967.
I was discussing this with my girlfriend who is from Hong Kong and in Hong Kong now and she says it's obvious why the PLA have not stepped in yet. The riots are not at all what the Western media has portrayed. As a matter of fact, I was shocked to hear these things from her. First of all, there are many children, barely in their teens, who don't really know why they are there. I've never seen that in the Western media. Then, she says a lot of the ranks of these rioters are made of low level mercenaries being paid to riot. And fractures are starting to show because they are not getting paid as they were promised and rioters are starting to get angry in their internal ranks. As a matter of fact, the Chinese government is moving to further cut off their funding sources. She says it's obvious to her and the majority of the people in Hong Kong that foreigners have teamed up with traitors to foment this unrest and that the majority of rioters are just confused Chinese people being roped into it. That's why it's clear that for now, this situation requires a more tactical and softer touch rather than one of military power. I did not know any of that. By reading the Western news, I was led to believe that Hong Kong was made in large of die-hard traitors for whom there is no hope left...
Well that's the whole point of terrorism; just a small number of people can have a terrible effect.
Meanwhile, on the Chinese news, a HK independence advocate went to the ROC with a banner calling for founding an independent country from China. A Taiwanese citizen reportedly slapped him down to the ground where he began to roll around and cry.