Young, educated and furious: A survey of Hong Kong's protesters

HONG KONG, China — The vast majority of Hong Kong's pro-democracy protesters are university-educated, almost half are in their twenties and nearly everyone loathes the police, according to an academic survey that sheds new light on the movement.

Ten weeks of demonstrations in the financial hub have seen millions of people take to the streets, increasingly violent clashes breakout between hardcore protesters and police and, more recently, flights grounded at the airport.

The rallies that began in opposition to a bill allowing extraditions to mainland China have morphed into a broader bid to reverse a slide in democratic freedoms.

Researchers from four of the city's universities surveyed participants across 12 protests—including mass rallies and "fluid" and "static" demonstrations—between June 9 and August 4 and found 54 percent were male and 46 percent were female.

Overall, 77 percent of the 6,688 respondents said they had a tertiary (higher) education, with 21 percent saying they had a secondary (high school) education.


The 20-29 age bracket was the most represented with 49 percent, compared to 11 percent under 20 and 19 percent aged between 30 and 39. Sixteen percent were 40 and above.

Exactly half (50 percent) considered themselves to be middle class, while 41 percent said they were "grassroots".

When asked why they were demonstrating, 87 percent said they wanted the extradition bill to be withdrawn, 95 percent expressed dissatisfaction with police's handling of the protests and 92 percent called for the establishment of an independent commission of inquiry.

The survey, called 'Onsite Survey Findings in Hong Kong's Anti-Extradition Bill Protests' was published on August 12 and led by researchers from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Lingnan University, the Hang Seng University of HongKong and Hong Kong Baptist University.

source: philstar.com

Protesters control key roads after historic Hong Kong rally

HONG KONG, China — Holdout anti-government protesters remained in control of a major arterial road in Hong Kong on Monday a day after organizers said two million people flooded the streets in a historic rebuke of the city's pro-Beijing leader.

Vast crowds marched for hours in tropical heat on Sunday calling for the resignation of chief executive Carrie Lam, who has been forced to suspend a widely loathed bill that would have allowed extraditions to the Chinese mainland.

Critics fear the Beijing-backed law will entangle people in China's notoriously opaque and politicized courts and damage the city's reputation as a safe business hub.

Throngs of largely black-clad protesters snaked their way for miles through the streets to the city's parliament—with the organizers' estimate for the crowd size doubling an already record-breaking demonstration the previous Sunday in the city of 7.3 million.

The estimate has not been independently verified but if confirmed it would be the largest demonstration in Hong Kong's history.

Police, who historically give far lower estimates for political protests, said 338,000 people turned out at the demonstration's "peak" Sunday.

By Monday morning the crowds had dramatically dropped to just a few hundred largely young protesters occupying a major highway outside the city's parliament and some nearby streets.

Small lines of police, who had virtually disappeared the night before, were pleading with the protesters to go home but made no attempt to force them on.

Public rage

Opposition to the extradition bill has united an unusually wide cross-section of Hong Kong in recent weeks, from influential legal and business bodies to religious leaders.

And while the spark for the last week of protests has been the extradition bill, the movement has since morphed into the latest expression of public rage against both the city's leaders and Beijing.

Many Hong Kongers believe China's leaders are stamping down on the financial hub's unique freedoms and culture.

They point to the huge 2014 pro-democracy "Umbrella Movement" that failed to win any concessions, the imprisonment of protest leaders, the disqualification of popular lawmakers and the disappearance of Beijing-critical booksellers, as recent examples.

In recent years, the city's pro-Beijing leaders have successfully resisted bowing to pressure from large street protests led by the city's pro-democracy activists.

But the sheer size of the last week's crowds, and unprecedented violent clashes on Wednesday, has forced Lam into a major climbdown.

On Saturday she indefinitely suspended the unpopular extradition bill and apologised a day later for the attempt causing "conflict and disputes".

But the U-turn has done little to mollify protesters.

The Civil Human Rights Front, which is organizing the rallies, has called on Lam to resign, shelve the bill permanently and apologise for police using tear gas and rubber bullets on Wednesday. They have also demanded all charges be dropped against anyone arrested.

The violent crowd control measures on Wednesday, used by police as protesters tried to storm the city's parliament to stop the bill being debated, have proved enormously costly for Lam's government.

Political allies—and even Beijing—distanced themselves from her as public anger mounted.

"I think she has lost any remaining credibility or legitimacy to rule in Hong Kong because of her own mishandling of this whole affair," Charles Mok, a lawmaker, told RTHK Radio.

Joshua Wong to walk free

The massive rallies—which come 30 years after the Tiananmen crackdown—also create a huge headache for president Xi Jinping, the most authoritarian Chinese leader since Mao Zedong.

Under the 1997 handover deal signed with Britain, China agreed to allow Hong Kong to keep unique liberties such as freedom of speech and its hugely successful independent common law courts for 50 years.

But the huge crowds this week illustrate how many Hong Kong's 7.3 million inhabitants believe China is already reneging on that deal and fear further sliding freedoms as the city hurtles towards that 2047 deadline.

Protest leaders have called for a strike on Monday and renewed demonstrations.

One of the city's most prominent protest leaders is due to be released from prison later on Monday morning.

Joshua Wong, who became the poster child of the 2014 "Umbrella Movement" protests, will walk free at 10:30 am (0230 GMT), his political party said.

Wong, 22, was jailed in May for two months on a contempt charge after pleading guilty to obstructing the clearance of a major protest camp back in 2014.

It was not clear whether his early release was a gesture from the authorities or procedure.

A release on Monday would mean he will have served exactly half his sentence, a common policy in Hong Kong for prisoners who exhibit good behaviour.

Chinese state media remained largely silent about Sunday's historic rally, with social platforms scrubbed clean of any pictures or mentions of the rally.

source: philstar.com

'Occupy Wall Street' marks second anniversary in New York

NEW YORK CITY - "Occupy Wall Street" returned to the streets of New York Tuesday to mark the second anniversary of the birth of the social protest movement.

Some 250 people gathered at midday in Zuccotti Park in Manhattan's downtown financial district, where the movement first gained ground.

As police kept a close eye, the activists then peacefully marched up Broadway to Washington Square.

At least three people were arrested for blocking traffic.

The demonstrators carried signs with a multitude of messages. One read "Too much deregulation." "Disarm the Pentagon," read another.

The Occupy movement was born in New York on September 17, 2011, when a group of youths put up tents in Zuccotti Square to protest social and economic inequality with the slogan "We are the 99 percent."

It quickly spread to other US cities but fizzled out due to a lack of hierarchy and clear goals.

The tent camps were subsequently raided by police. In New York, authorities went in early on November 15, 2011, to clean up the square.

"I was here at the beginning," said Jason Woody, an activist marking Tuesday's anniversary.

"It's funny because a lot of people like to say that Occupy is dead, but it's not exactly what happened," the 29-year-old added.

Instead, he told AFP, people took what they learned by coming together back to their home communities to start other movements there.

"The things we did here did inspire people in all parts of the world, to stand up and take control," he said.

"It has been a long hard journey ...We changed the conversation in this country."

Another demonstration was planned later Tuesday at the United Nations.

source: interaksyon.com

Protests Greet Lady Gaga's Arrival in the Philippines

Hundreds of young Christians took to the streets Friday and Saturday in protest as Lady Gaga arrived in Manila for the latest leg of her Asian tour, the Associated Press reports.

The protesters, members of a group called Biblemode Youth Philippines, are calling for the cancellation of the pop star's concerts in the majority Roman Catholic country. "She declared a distorted view toward Jesus Christ and for us Biblical Christians it is offensive," protest leader Ruben Abante told the AP. "Her music and everything about her is different from what our values are."

Lady Gaga's Born This Way Ball has been beset by similar incidents throughout Asia. After Christian groups complained about her racy lyrics and costumes in Seoul, South Korea, authorities banned fans younger than 18 from attending the tour's kickoff show. Gaga was then forced to cancel her sold-out June 3rd appearance in Jakarta, Indonesia, when she was denied a concert permit following objections from Islamic hard-liners.

The Manila concerts, scheduled for Monday and Tuesday, were approved by authorities in the Philippines – with some caveats.

"Although we respect artistic and musical expressions, I won’t allow anyone or any group to provide acts which may be questionable in a way at any venue under my jurisdiction," the mayor of Pasay City, part of Metropolitan Manila, said in a statement. "We reminded the producers of Lady Gaga’s concert that the show and the event as a whole shall not exhibit any nudity or lewd conduct which may be offensive to morals and good customs."

The Biblemode Youth Philippines group plans to hold a vigil near the concert venue starting on Sunday.

source: rollingstone.com

Quebec, students clinch deal on tuition hikes

VICTORIAVILLE, Canada — The government of the French-speaking province of Quebec and student groups clinched a roadmap agreement Saturday to put an end to 12 weeks of often violent protests over tuition hikes, officials said.

The deal came after some 23 hours of arduous negotiations between Education Minister Line Beauchamp and four major Quebec student groups, and just hours after clashes in Victoriaville that left nine people injured and ended with 106 arrests outside the Quebec Liberal Party’s annual convention.

Details of the agreement were not immediately available, as student leaders said they wanted to first have group members review the document before final approval.

The Victoriaville protests overnight were among the most violent since mid-February, when students took to the streets to protest the Quebec government’s plans to raise university fees by $1,625 over five years to $3,800 per year as part of an effort to rein in the budget deficit.

Quebec’s main student groups have mobilized some 170,000 students who are refusing to go to class until the matter is resolved.

During the skirmishes in Victoriaville, some 170 kilometers east of Montreal, protesters threw stones and police shot tear gas and fired rubber bullets. The injured included six protesters and three police officers.

Three of the students were rushed to hospital with head injuries, but officials said they were in stable condition.

One protester, identified as a student at Cegep de Saint-Laurent university in Montreal, lost the use of his eye, medical officials said.

The ear of another student was also severely cut, according to witnesses.

“We were on top of the little hill behind the protests and there was a guy with a bloody ear,” said Shania, who attended Friday’s demonstration and would not provide her last name.

People toward the back of the demo were peaceful, a protester who gave her name as Tania told AFP.

“I don’t understand how you can justify police who are supposed to be protecting the convention ending up in an area further away,” Tania said.

But police spokesman Captain Jean Finet told reporters that the officers had “used the necessary force to ensure citizens’ safety.”

In one exchange demonstrators attacked and beat a police officer, according to local media, which said the officer did not suffer serious injuries.

Police attributed the violence to a small group of troublemakers among the protesters.

Provincial police had initially arrested four people during the protest in front of the Victoriaville convention center, where Quebec Premier Jean Charest’s party was holding its annual meeting.

Overnight, officers stopped three buses full of students heading home to Montreal, according to officials.

More protesters were in Victoriaville for the second day of the Quebec Liberal Party’s convention.

source: japantoday.com