Angry crowd charges Hong Kong protest barricades

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP-EXCITE

By SYLVIA HUI and KELVIN CHAN

HONG KONG (AP) — A mob of masked men opposed to Hong Kong's pro-democracy demonstrators led an apparently coordinated assault on the protest zone in the heart of the city's financial district Monday, tearing down barricades and clashing with police.

The chaotic scenes came after police carried out a dawn operation to reopen some key roads blocked by protesters for more than 15 days. Police said they will continue to chip away at the occupied zone to relieve traffic, and warned that anyone who challenges them could be arrested.

Monday's confrontations highlighted the growing tension between student-led protesters and authorities — as well as other residents aggravated by the disruptions. The protesters, who had enjoyed widespread support when the movement began, are fighting to keep up momentum as the political crisis entered a third week.

Demonstrators have flooded several thoroughfares in central Hong Kong since Sept. 28 in a civil disobedience movement to oppose restrictions on the first-ever direct election for the semiautonomous Chinese city's leader, promised by Beijing for 2017. They want authorities to drop a plan to use a pro-Beijing committee to screen candidates, and demand the resignation of Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying, the city's Beijing-backed leader.

FULL story at link.



Police officers remove some barricades used by pro-democracy protesters who have been occupying main roads in the Asian financial center for two weeks in Hong Kong Monday, Oct. 13, 2014. Officers took away unmanned metal barricades at the edges of the city's Central financial district early Monday, ahead of the rush hour. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu)


Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20141013/as--hong_kong-democracy_protest-f42d132c40.html

[starroute]

1. Like so many AP stories, this seems wildly distorted

Who are this "angry crowd"? A casual glance at the headline would suggest it was about demonstrators attacking police. The text of the story does admit it was "a mob of masked men" in a coordinated attack on the demonstrators -- but there's no attempt to explain who they were or what they were trying to accomplish. There's even an implication that they might have been aggravated residents of the area.

This is bad reporting by any standard -- if not outright propaganda.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/hongkong/11158181/Masked-men-attack-Hong-Kong-democracy-protesters.html

Kris Cheng, a Hong Kong writer who was present, said pro-democracy protesters had formed a human chain to protect themselves from the offensive.

"Nobody knows who these masked men are but people think they are triads," he told The Telegraph.

Earlier in the day Hong Kong's police admitted that up to 200 gang members from two of the city's major triad groups had infiltrated the protest camps, possibly in order to stir up violence that would discredit demonstrators.

Chu Wai-ho, a 32-year-old protester who witnessed Monday's confrontation, told the South China Morning Post: "I can't believe the anti-Occupy Central people actually took the step of organising what look like triad members to break up our peaceful protests." "The police tried to keep them under control but they were outnumbered," he added. "This is a major international financial hub. I can't believe they're doing this in full view of many foreigners and working professionals."


http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/10/04/hong-kong-s-triads-attack-protestors.html

HONG KONG, China – For years to come, October 3, 2014, is likely to be remembered as one of the darkest days in the history of Hong Kong. . . .

Friday’s violence began in mid-afternoon when groups of unknown masked men attempted to break the week-long traffic blockade in set up by anti-government activists at the Nathan-Argyle Road junction in Kowloon. These activists – mostly young students, many female and defenseless – were vastly outnumbered by the so-called “thugs” during the early stages of the attack. . . .

Speculation remains rife about who these masked men were. Plenty of pro-democracy activists point to a widely circulated picture on social media, which allegedly shows rewards offered for committing different levels of crime against demonstrators, as evidence the thugs were paid.

Others also suspect civil groups with funding coming from Mainland China are sowing dissent. Likewise, local pro-China Hongkongers with vested economic interests could have taken part. A newsagent further down on Nathan Road told The Daily Beast that he recognized a number of retired cops in the cavalry charge.