HONG KONG: Anger soared in Hong Kong on Monday over a vicious assault against pro-democracy protesters by suspected triad gangsters that left dozens wounded, in a dramatic escalation of the political turmoil plaguing the Chinese city.
The financial hub’s roiling unrest took a dark turn late Sunday when gangs of men — most wearing white T-shirts and carrying bats, sticks and metal poles — set upon anti-government demonstrators as they returned from another huge march earlier that day.
Footage from the attack broadcast live on Facebook showed people screaming as the men beat multiple protesters and journalists in Yuen Long station and inside subway trains, leaving pools of blood on the floor.
Hospital authorities said 45 people were wounded in the attack, with one man in critical condition and five others with serious injuries.
Critics rounded on the city’s embattled police force, accusing officers of taking more than an hour to reach the station despite frantic calls from those under attack and then failing to arrest the armed men who stayed in the streets around the station into Monday morning.
Some men in white shirts were later filmed leaving the scene in cars with Chinese mainland number plates.
Lam Cheuk-ting, a pro-democracy lawmaker, was one of those wounded in the melee, sustaining lacerations to his face and arms.
He criticized police for their response and accused “triad members” of being behind the attacks.
“Their very barbaric and violent acts have already completely violated the bottom line of Hong Kong’s civilized society,” he told reporters early Monday.
Nathan Law, a prominent pro-democracy activist, added on Twitter: “When the Chinese mobs are attacking the citizens, no law enforcement are there. Shame on the government.”
The clashes have ratcheted up fears that the city’s feared triad gangs are wading into the political conflict.
Yuen Long lies in the New Territories near the Chinese border where the criminal gangs and staunchly pro-Beijing rural committees remain influential.
Similar assaults by pro-government vigilantes against demonstrators during the 2014 “Umbrella Movement” protests were blamed on triads.
Hong Kong has been plunged into its worst crisis in recent history by weeks of marches and sporadic violent confrontations between police and pockets of hardcore protesters.
The initial protests were lit by a now-suspended bill that would have allowed extraditions to mainland China.
But they have since evolved into a wider movement calling for democratic reforms, universal suffrage and a halt to sliding freedoms in the semi-autonomous territory.
The city’s parliament was trashed by protesters earlier this month, as Beijing’s authority faces its most serious challenge since Hong Kong was handed back to China in 1997.
As the mob rampage unfolded in Yuen Long police were simultaneously battling hardcore democracy protesters in the middle of the city’s commercial district.
Riot officers fired tear gas and rubber bullets at anti-government protesters, hours after China’s office in the city was daubed with eggs and graffiti in a vivid rebuke to Beijing’s rule.
Wang Zhimin, the head of the office, blasted the protesters on Monday, saying they had insulted “all Chinese people” as he called on Hong Kong’s government to pursue the “rioters.”
Xinhua added the demonstration “blatantly challenged the authority of the central government” and was “absolutely intolerable.”
Earlier in the day, another huge and peaceful anti-government march had made its way through the city — the seventh weekend in a row that residents have come out en masse.
Six weeks of huge protests have done little to persuade the city’s unelected leaders — or Beijing — to change tack on the hub’s future.
Under the 1997 handover deal with Britain, China promised to allow Hong Kong to keep key liberties such as its independent judiciary and freedom of speech.
But many say those provisions are already being curtailed, citing the disappearance into mainland custody of dissident booksellers, the disqualification of prominent politicians and the jailing of pro-democracy protest leaders.
Authorities have also resisted calls for the city’s leader to be directly elected by the people.
Protesters have vowed to keep their movement going until their core demands are met such as an independent inquiry into police tactics, an amnesty for those arrested, a permanent withdrawal of the bill, universal suffrage and Lam’s resignation.
There is little sign that either Lam or Beijing will budge.
Beyond agreeing to suspend the extradition bill there have been few other concessions and fears are rising that Beijing’s patience is running out.
Anger soars over vicious mob attack on Hong Kong protesters
Anger soars over vicious mob attack on Hong Kong protesters
- Footage from the attack broadcast live on Facebook showed people screaming as the men beat multiple protesters and journalists in Yuen Long station and inside subway trains
- The clashes have ratcheted up fears that the city’s feared triad gangs are wading into the political conflict
Ukraine moves to fire Sumy official over strike comments
Artyukh’s dismissal was linked to quotes he gave the Suspilne news outlet
KYIV: Ukraine on Tuesday moved to dismiss the governor of the Sumy region after he made comments implying a deadly Russian strike in his border territory had targeted a military gathering.
Two Russian ballistic missiles killed 35 people and wounded more than 100 others in Sumy city on Sunday in one of the single-worst attacks in Ukraine in months.
The government moved to dismiss Sumy governor Volodymyr Artyukh, an official said on social media, after he was criticized for comments that appeared to confirm a military award ceremony was taking place during the attack in Sumy on Sunday.
A senior Ukrainian official confirmed to AFP that Artyukh’s dismissal was linked to quotes he gave the Suspilne news outlet, in which he said he was “invited” to the awards event but did not organize it.
The Kremlin said Monday its forces targeted a gathering of army commanders and accused Ukraine of using civilians as a “human shield.”
The Ukrainian official, who spoke anonymously to speak candidly about the issue, said it had been “clear” for some time that Artyukh was a “a very mediocre manager.”
“He really screwed up,” the official said, adding: “And this story is actually the last tragic straw.”
Indonesia launches Global Hydrogen Ecosystem Summit for energy transition partnerships
- Hyundai partners with Indonesian oil giant Pertamina to produce hydrogen from organic waste
- Indonesia plans to utilize hydrogen for decarbonization efforts and energy security
JAKARTA: The Global Hydrogen Ecosystem Summit started in Jakarta on Tuesday amid efforts to forge international collaborations in making hydrogen a key pillar of Indonesia’s clean energy transition, with plans to double its gas production rate in the coming years.
The summit is co-organized by the Indonesia Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Energy, the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, the Ministry of National Development Planning and Indonesia’s state utility company PLN.
Around 2,500 participants from 10 countries will be involved in the three-day forum and exhibition at the Jakarta Convention Center.
The summit marks a “new chapter” in Indonesia’s implementation of the Paris climate agreement, Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Bahlil Lahadalia said.
“Indonesia is consistent in its commitment to the Paris agreement. To implement it in the context of renewable energy sources and hydrogen, it cannot be done partially, it must be comprehensively,” Lahadalia said.
“In the next 10 years, we will double our gas production and I will push to direct the use of new gas wells to meet the demands of the domestic market and support downstreaming efforts, including producing hydrogen.”
Indonesia is one of the world’s largest producers and consumers of coal, and most of its power needs are met by burning fossil fuels.
In 2024, renewables accounted for around 15 percent of Indonesia’s energy mix. The country of 270 million people has been working to increase its renewable energy sources to meet its pledge of achieving carbon neutrality by 2060.
Under its National Hydrogen Strategy, Indonesia plans to utilize hydrogen for decarbonization efforts, energy security and economic growth.
“Indonesia has an abundance of renewable energy potential … This Global Hydrogen Ecosystem Summit is a meeting and exhibition that connects all stakeholders,” Eniya Listiani Dewi, director general of new and renewable energy sources at the energy ministry, said during the opening ceremony.
“(It is) a platform for global collaboration where we can interact, exchange knowledge, build partnerships and do business matching, while also forging production and development of the hydrogen industry.”
During the summit, South Korea’s automaker Hyundai announced its partnership with Indonesia’s state owned oil and gas company Pertamina to produce hydrogen from organic waste sourced at the Sarimukti landfill near Bandung, the capital of West Java.
The Korean giant will establish an on-site hydrogen refueling station using Pertamina’s existing compressed natural gas infrastructure, with plans to start construction this year.
“The W2H (waste to hydrogen) ecosystem development project in Indonesia is especially meaningful as it marks the first case of expanding the resource-circulating hydrogen production demonstration project, which has been successfully carried out in Korea, to an overseas market,” Hyundai said in a statement.
“We hope to collaborate with the Indonesian government and companies to expand hydrogen production and further accelerate the transition to a hydrogen society.”
Macron to honor craftspeople who rebuilt Notre Dame
- “You have achieved what was thought impossible,” Macron told restoration workers
- On Tuesday, Macron will once again speak of France’s “pride” over the operation’s success
PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday will bestow awards on around 100 craftspeople and officials who helped restore Notre Dame to its former glory after a fire nearly destroyed the beloved Paris cathedral six years ago.
The ceremony at the Elysee Palace will take place from early Tuesday evening, around the same time the devastating fire broke out at the Gothic masterpiece on April 15, 2019.
Macron will bestow the awards in the presence of Prime Minister Francois Bayrou and government members including Culture Minister Rachida Dati.
Jean-Claude Gallet, who presided over the Paris fire brigade during the disaster, will also be in attendance.
“You have achieved what was thought impossible,” Macron told restoration workers and officials after he toured the cathedral last November, days before the cathedral re-opened to the public on December 7.
On Tuesday, Macron will once again speak of France’s “pride” over the operation’s success, according to his team, which said an average of 30,000 people a day now visit the restored cathedral.
Macron will also honor Philippe Jost, who headed the public organization tasked with restoring the cathedral and was elevated to the rank of “commander” of the Legion of Honour, France’s highest national award.
Jost succeeded Jean-Louis Georgelin, the general who had been put in charge of overseeing the restoration but who died in 2023.
Georgelin was conferred with the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour, the highest rank of the award established by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1802.
The architects Remi Fromont and Philippe Villeneuve will also be decorated.
Alongside them, nearly 100 civil servants, entrepreneurs and craftspeople will be awarded the Legion of Honour or the National Order of Merit, another top award established by Charles de Gaulle.
They represent around 2,000 people who took part in the restoration of the cathedral.
They come from “all the trades” and include carpenters, ironworkers, scaffolders, rope access workers, organ restorers and stained glass artisans, the French presidency said.
Aymeric Albert, who will be made a knight of the Legion of Honour, combed the forests of France to select oak trees needed to rebuild the spire, the nave and the choir.
The massive restoration project was financed thanks to nearly 850 million euros (around $960 million at today’s rate) in donations from all over the world.
French prisons attacked in response to government’s narco crackdown, minister says
- Military-grade weapons were fired at entrance to Toulon prison, in southern France, the prison officials’ union UFAP said
- “Attempts have been made to intimidate staff in several prisons, ranging from burning vehicles to firing automatic weapons,” Darmanin wrote on X
PARIS: Multiple French prisons have been attacked in recent nights, including with automatic weapons, in what the justice minister said on Tuesday was a response to a government clamp-down on a drug trade turbocharged by a surge in cocaine trafficking.
Military-grade weapons were fired at entrance to Toulon prison, in southern France, the prison officials’ union UFAP said.
Vehicles were also set on fire outside the jails in Villepinte, Nanterre, Aix-Luynes, and Valence, UFAP said. In Nancy, a prison officer was threatened at their home, while in Marseille there was an attempted arson attack.
Years of record South American cocaine imports to Europe have metastasised local drug markets, sparking a wave of drug violence across the continent.
France has not been spared, with record cocaine seizures, and gangs reaping windfalls from the white powder as they expand from traditional power bases in cities such as Marseille into smaller regional towns unaccustomed to drug violence.
Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin, who plans to build new high-security prisons to crack down on gangsters who run their empires from behind bars, said he would travel to Toulon.
“Attempts have been made to intimidate staff in several prisons, ranging from burning vehicles to firing automatic weapons,” Darmanin wrote on X. “The French Republic is facing up to the problem of drug trafficking and is taking measures that will massively disrupt the criminal networks.”
The National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office (PNAT) said it had taken charge of the probe into the attacks, which also targeted the National School of Prison Administration. The PNAT said officers from France’s domestic intelligence agency DGSI would assist in the investigation.
It was not immediately clear why the PNAT, rather than organized crime prosecutors, was in charge. The letters “DDPF” — apparently an acronym for “French prisoners’ rights” — were tagged on many of the sites that were attacked, leading to some media speculation it could be the work of a militant group.
Wilfried Fonck, national secretary of the UFAP, told Reuters he was unaware of any such movement operating in French jails, but said that was almost certainly why PNAT had taken charge of the investigation.
RECORD COCAINE SEIZURES
Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said he had instructed local prefects, alongside the police and gendarmerie, to immediately step up the protection of staff and prisons.
“These targeted, cowardly, and heinous attacks aim to terrorize those who embody the authority of the State and ensure the safety of all on a daily basis, even at the cost of their own peace of mind,” UFAP said. “Prison staff are not cannon fodder.”
The rise in gang crime has lifted support for the far-right National Rally party, and helped drag French politics rightward.
Darmanin, a former interior minister, and Retailleau have prioritized tackling drug trafficking.
In February — as he announced record cocaine seizures of 47 tons in the first 11 months of 2024, versus 23 tons in all of 2023 — Retailleau said France had been hit by a “white tsunami” that had rewritten the rules of the criminal landscape.
Darmanin has proposed a series of measures to tighten prison security, including building high-security jails to isolate the country’s top 100 kingpins.
Lawmakers are also close to approving a sweeping new anti-drug trafficking law that would create a new national organized crime prosecutors’ office and give greater investigative powers to police probing narcos.
French authorities scored a win against drug crime in February, when they recaptured Mohamed Amra, a French fugitive known as “The Fly.” His escape as he was being transported from prison to a court hearing resulted in the deaths of two prison guards and was seized upon by right-wing politicians as evidence that France had lost its grip on drug crime.
Maldives ban Israelis to protest Gaza war
- President Mohamed Muizzu ratified the legislation shortly after it was approved by parliament on Tuesday
- Official data showed that only 59 Israeli tourists visited the archipelago in February, among 214,000 other foreign arrivals
MALE, Maldives: The Maldives announced Tuesday it was banning the entry of Israelis from the luxury tourist archipelago in “resolute solidarity” with the Palestinian people.
President Mohamed Muizzu ratified the legislation shortly after it was approved by parliament on Tuesday.
“The ratification reflects the government’s firm stance in response to the continuing atrocities and ongoing acts of genocide committed by Israel against the Palestinian people,” his office said in a statement.
“The Maldives reaffirms its resolute solidarity with the Palestinian cause.”
The ban will be implemented with immediate effect, a spokesman for Muizzu’s office said.
The Maldives, a small Islamic republic of 1,192 strategically located coral islets, is known for its secluded white sandy beaches, shallow turquoise lagoons and Robinson Crusoe-style getaways.
Official data showed that only 59 Israeli tourists visited the archipelago in February, among 214,000 other foreign arrivals.
The Maldives had lifted a previous ban on Israeli tourists in the early 1990s and briefly moved to restore relations in 2010.
Opposition parties and government allies in the Maldives have been pressuring Muizzu to ban Israelis as a statement of opposition to the Gaza war.
Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs urged its citizens last year to avoid traveling to the Maldives.
The Gaza war broke out after Palestinian militant group Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Gaza’s health ministry said on Sunday that at least 1,613 Palestinians had been killed since March 18, when a ceasefire collapsed, taking the overall death toll since the war began to 50,983.
