THeBlueCashew

Quote from: "seoulbro"I was watching protesters heckling the Chinese appointed Hong Kong leader. I support the democracy protesters, but I wonder if their efforts will amount to not? China does not have a history of negotiating with people who disrupt public order. I cannot see them getting Beijing to reverse it's decision.

QuoteClose to 1,000 Torontonians took part in a rally Wednesday afternoon to show solidarity with pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong.

Chanting "We support Hong Kong," the group marched a few blocks from the University of Toronto's campus to the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office, located at 174 St. George Street.



"What we are really hitting on right now is just to awaken everybody, not just the people in Hong Kong but all around the world," Teresa Woo, a participant in the Toronto rally, told CP24.



"We are here to support all of the students and citizens in Hong Kong who are participating in a very peaceful protest but were faced with excessive force by the police. So we are here to say no to that and we are ... fighting for true democracy."



Many of those who took part in the rally carried signs reading, "You are not alone," and "Democracy."



"I believe this will open a new negotiation with the Chinese government and I hope the Chinese government will be able to hear us, our petitions," said Kelvin Chu, a student who joined in for Wednesday's march.



"I hope in the near future they will open negotiations."



//http://www.cp24.com/news/hundreds-attend-toronto-rally-to-support-protesters-in-hong-kong-1.2034159

QuoteHong Kong retail hurt by protests

Wednesday, 01 October 2014

Hong Kong retail hurt by protestsHong Kong's ongoing pro-democracy protests are not doing anything to boost the region's economy. On the contrary, retailers and real estate developers are starting to get seriously worried as the number of tour groups from mainland China has decreased by nearly a third. In addition, the protests   will affect the Golden Week, a holiday celebrating the establishment of the People's Republic of China, which starts on October 1st and usually means millions of visitors from the Chinese mainland.

http://www.fashionunited.co.uk/fashion-news/fashion/hong-kong-retail-hurt-by-protests-2014100122615

Quote from: "Romero"The West will always rightfully support democracy and freedom, but the demonstrators in Hong Kong are indeed Eastern. They started this on their own, and they're the ones committed to it. This is about what the Hongkonese want and they want it.

Quote from: "cc li tarte"I don't know what your problem is. The West brought democracy to Iraq, Libya  & Afghan and they are thriving within it



 ac_smile

QuoteViolent mobs with triad links threaten Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters



Pro-democracy protesters were besieged by violent mobs looking to break up their occupation of one of Hong Kong's busiest districts on Friday, leading to chaotic skirmishes on city streets, accusations of police bias, and the shelving of negotiations with the government.



Nineteen people were arrested, at least eight of whom had "triad backgrounds", police said early on Saturday, lending weight to furious accusations from pro-democracy groups that the violence was instigated by gangs who had been paid to provoke trouble and break up the demonstrations.



The protesters, which have occupied three separate sites across the city, came under pressure on multiple fronts on Friday in what appeared to be a concerted attack. The confrontations in Kowloon's densely-populated Mong Kok, in particular, escalated into open violence as the night wore on.



Witnesses said the attackers punched and kicked protesters, while female protesters were grope and harassed.



Regardless of who the instigators were, they attracted a large group of dozens, if not hundreds, of others who joined in surrounding the pro-democracy tent, baying for blood, sometimes literally. "Kill!" was heard yelled from the crowd, while observers who tried to intervene were also threatened physically.



Many claimed they were ordinary Hong Kong residents who were fed up with how the occupation of the streets had disrupted their lives.



But the desperate mood in the eye of the storm – where the besieged tent of a few dozen pro-democracy protesters had been holding out for hours in the face of threats and abuse – turned triumphant at about 7pm as it became apparent that the tables were turning.



Word spreading on social media, including Facebook, had seen supporters arrive in droves after work. Crowds swelled to the tens of thousands, completely engulfng Nathan Road and Argyle Road.



In remarkable scenes, it was now the anti-Occupy agitators who had been surrounded, with crowds chanting loudly for police to arrest them.  



"Hong Kong people have come from all corners. They know that we have been completely surrounded," said pro-democracy protester Prince Tse, a 28-year-old barista. "We are really touched. They have just finished work and literally ran here. We can feel Hong Kong is united."



//http://www.theage.com.au/world/violent-mobs-with-triad-links-threaten-hong-kong-prodemocracy-protesters-20141004-10q7gq.html

QuoteWith fatigue setting in and Hong Kong residents pushing back — some violently — against the pro-democracy protests that have snarled parts of the city for a week, student leaders are weighing the next steps.



In Causeway Bay and Mong Kok, where tens of thousands of demonstrators had choked the streets earlier in the week, police had to move in to protect them from attacks by opposing groups. During the day Friday the number of pro-democracy protesters thinned and they struggled to maintain their ground in the two districts as people returned to work after a two-day holiday and heavy rains pelted the city.



The scuffles in Kowloon's crowded Mong Kok district were the most chaotic since police used tear gas and pepper spray on Sunday in an unsuccessful attempt to disperse protesters pushing for greater electoral reforms. TIME reported that pro-Beijing supporters trashed the students' tents and hurled obscenities.



Police were hard-pressed to keep order as the two sides tussled in a tense standoff. The visibly older people trying to force the vastly outnumbered protesters out were yelling, shoving and at times trying to drag the younger protesters away.



The democracy activists linked arms and held hands as they tried to stand their ground against the huge crowd.

Police formed cordons and escorted some of the protesters away as hundreds of onlookers chanted, "Go home!"



"If their demonstration was in Victoria Park or anywhere else where it didn't cause a traffic jam, I would support them," said business owner James Miu, who directed a group of men dismantling a roadblock in Causeway Bay. "The police can do nothing, so we did this. Just seven of us. We are not police, we are just citizens. I worry about my staff."





Students face a dilemma on how to proceed, after Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying rejected an ultimatum to resign by midnight or face an escalation in protests. Leung offered talks on political reform in a bid to end the unrest triggered by China's plan for a committee to vet candidates for an election in 2017, and the Hong Kong government's support for that process.



Most of the protesters remain in the Admiralty area where they've barricaded the entrances to the main government offices, prompting officials to close a compound where more than 3,000 people work. Police and security forces have negotiated with demonstrators to bring in food and supplies, while riot police were used to open a breach in the barricades to let an ambulance bring out a sick officer.



After thinning to several hundred, their numbers were again swelling into the thousands after local televisions broadcasts images of the violence at Mong Kok.



The protests have dented sales by retailers during what is normally one of their busiest weeks of year, when thousands of mainland Chinese travel to Hong Kong for the Golden Week holiday. The unrest has cost Hong Kong's retailers HK$2.2 billion ($316 million Cad), or about 6 percent of the month's total sales, Raymond Yeung, senior economist at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd., said in a research note Friday.



Frustration among people whose livelihood has been affected has grown more public, and pro-Beijing forces have become more outspoken and more aggressive as the demonstrations drag on. The tensions are dividing families among a population that city leaders like to refer to as pragmatic.



Terence Tang, a 52-year-old engineer who spent his second day at the protests Thursday, said his 18-year-old daughter is neutral, he thinks his 16-year-old son supports the cause, and he's had arguments with his wife over his taking part.



He displayed a WhatsApp message from his wife saying she planned to lock the gate of their house and let him sleep on the street if he stayed at the protest.



Support for the demonstrations surged after police used tear gas on Sept. 28, turning the protests into the biggest challenge to Chinese control of the city since the end of British colonial rule in 1997. In threatening to escalate the protests by occupying government offices, the students risk undermining the goodwill triggered public outrage over the tear-gas assault.



As the demonstrations grew they attracted protesters who won't necessarily follow the student leader's directives. Student protesters last night formed a human chain to stop other demonstrators from blocking one of the only remaining open roads in the Central business district, with one shouting at the students, "it's not just your protest, it's mine too."





Lester Shum, deputy secretary general of the Hong Kong Federation of Students, pleaded with demonstrators outside the government offices last night not to take matters in their own hands.



"Please, I ask all of you, don't shed any blood or provoke the police before we've had real dialog with Carrie," Shum said, referring to Carrie Lam, Leung's deputy, who was designated last night to hold talks. "Brothers and sisters, you angels, stay calm and don't waste the last five days by turning public opinion against us."





Time is not on the students' side, said Hui, who grew up in Hong Kong and serves on the Academic Advisors Committee of the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict.



"The worry really is that the enthusiasm of core supporters will also wear out," she said. "If CY Leung was smart, he would just wait out the protesters, he could avoid the choice of making concessions or cracking down."

http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/10/03/fed-up-hong-kong-residents-attack-pro-democracy-demonstrators-sending-protests-spiraling-into-chaos/

Quote from: "Shen Li"^I expected Oak to post some silly shit like that.

QuotePolice said they had arrested 19 men since Friday, with local state-owned broadcaster RTHK saying eight of them were suspected members of Triads, or Chinese criminal gangs.

http://m.edmontonsun.com/2014/10/03/hong-kong-clashes-break-out-protesters-threaten-to-boycott-talks

Quote from: "Romero"

QuoteViolent mobs with triad links threaten Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters



Pro-democracy protesters were besieged by violent mobs looking to break up their occupation of one of Hong Kong's busiest districts on Friday, leading to chaotic skirmishes on city streets, accusations of police bias, and the shelving of negotiations with the government.



Nineteen people were arrested, at least eight of whom had "triad backgrounds", police said early on Saturday, lending weight to furious accusations from pro-democracy groups that the violence was instigated by gangs who had been paid to provoke trouble and break up the demonstrations.



The protesters, which have occupied three separate sites across the city, came under pressure on multiple fronts on Friday in what appeared to be a concerted attack. The confrontations in Kowloon's densely-populated Mong Kok, in particular, escalated into open violence as the night wore on.



Witnesses said the attackers punched and kicked protesters, while female protesters were grope and harassed.



Regardless of who the instigators were, they attracted a large group of dozens, if not hundreds, of others who joined in surrounding the pro-democracy tent, baying for blood, sometimes literally. "Kill!" was heard yelled from the crowd, while observers who tried to intervene were also threatened physically.



Many claimed they were ordinary Hong Kong residents who were fed up with how the occupation of the streets had disrupted their lives.



But the desperate mood in the eye of the storm – where the besieged tent of a few dozen pro-democracy protesters had been holding out for hours in the face of threats and abuse – turned triumphant at about 7pm as it became apparent that the tables were turning.



Word spreading on social media, including Facebook, had seen supporters arrive in droves after work. Crowds swelled to the tens of thousands, completely engulfng Nathan Road and Argyle Road.



In remarkable scenes, it was now the anti-Occupy agitators who had been surrounded, with crowds chanting loudly for police to arrest them.  



"Hong Kong people have come from all corners. They know that we have been completely surrounded," said pro-democracy protester Prince Tse, a 28-year-old barista. "We are really touched. They have just finished work and literally ran here. We can feel Hong Kong is united."



//http://www.theage.com.au/world/violent-mobs-with-triad-links-threaten-hong-kong-prodemocracy-protesters-20141004-10q7gq.html

Quote from: "Romero"

QuoteViolent mobs with triad links threaten Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters



Pro-democracy protesters were besieged by violent mobs looking to break up their occupation of one of Hong Kong's busiest districts on Friday, leading to chaotic skirmishes on city streets, accusations of police bias, and the shelving of negotiations with the government.



Nineteen people were arrested, at least eight of whom had "triad backgrounds", police said early on Saturday, lending weight to furious accusations from pro-democracy groups that the violence was instigated by gangs who had been paid to provoke trouble and break up the demonstrations.



The protesters, which have occupied three separate sites across the city, came under pressure on multiple fronts on Friday in what appeared to be a concerted attack. The confrontations in Kowloon's densely-populated Mong Kok, in particular, escalated into open violence as the night wore on.



Witnesses said the attackers punched and kicked protesters, while female protesters were grope and harassed.



Regardless of who the instigators were, they attracted a large group of dozens, if not hundreds, of others who joined in surrounding the pro-democracy tent, baying for blood, sometimes literally. "Kill!" was heard yelled from the crowd, while observers who tried to intervene were also threatened physically.



Many claimed they were ordinary Hong Kong residents who were fed up with how the occupation of the streets had disrupted their lives.



But the desperate mood in the eye of the storm – where the besieged tent of a few dozen pro-democracy protesters had been holding out for hours in the face of threats and abuse – turned triumphant at about 7pm as it became apparent that the tables were turning.



Word spreading on social media, including Facebook, had seen supporters arrive in droves after work. Crowds swelled to the tens of thousands, completely engulfng Nathan Road and Argyle Road.



In remarkable scenes, it was now the anti-Occupy agitators who had been surrounded, with crowds chanting loudly for police to arrest them.  



"Hong Kong people have come from all corners. They know that we have been completely surrounded," said pro-democracy protester Prince Tse, a 28-year-old barista. "We are really touched. They have just finished work and literally ran here. We can feel Hong Kong is united."



//http://www.theage.com.au/world/violent-mobs-with-triad-links-threaten-hong-kong-prodemocracy-protesters-20141004-10q7gq.html