HONG KONG: Hong Kong streets descended into chaotic scenes following an unauthorized pro-democracy rally Sunday as protesters set up roadblocks and torched businesses and police responded with tear gas and a water cannon.
Protesters tossed firebombs and took their anger out on shops with mainland Chinese ties as they skirmished late into the evening with riot police, who unleashed numerous tear gas rounds on short notice, angering residents and passers-by.
Police had beefed up security measures ahead of the rally, for which they refused to give permission, the latest chapter in the unrest that has disrupted life in the financial hub since early June.
Some 24 people were hurt and treated at hospitals, including six with serious injuries, the Hospital Authority said.
Police did not give an arrest figure. One person was seen being handcuffed and taken away to a police van.
As the rally march set off, protest leaders carried a black banner that read, “Five main demands, not one less,” as they pressed their calls for police accountability and political rights in the semi-autonomous Chinese territory.
Supporters sang the protest movement’s anthem, waved colonial and US flags, and held up placards depicting the Chinese flag as a Nazi swastika.
Many protesters wore masks in defiance of a recently introduced ban on face coverings at public gatherings, and volunteers handed more out to the crowd.
Matthew Lee, a university student, said he was determined to keep protesting even after more than four months.
“I can see some people want to give up, but I don’t want to do this because Hong Kong is my home, we want to protect this place, protect Hong Kong,” he said. “You can’t give up because Hong Kong is your home.”
Some front-line protesters barricaded streets at multiple locations in Kowloon, where the city’s subway operator restricted passenger access.
They tore up stones from the sidewalk and scattered them on the road, commandeered plastic safety barriers and unscrewed metal railings to form makeshift roadblocks.
A water cannon truck and armored car led a column of dozens of police vans up and down Nathan Road, a major artery lined with shops, to spray a stinging blue-dyed liquid as police moved to clear the road of protesters and barricades.
At one point, the water cannon sprayed a handful of people standing outside a mosque. Local broadcaster RTHK reported that the people hit were guarding the mosque and few protesters were nearby. The Hong Kong police force said it was an “unintended impact” of its operation to disperse protesters and later sent a representative to meet the mosque’s imam.
As night fell, protesters returned to the streets, setting trash on fire at intersections.
Residents jeered at riot police, cursing at them and telling them to leave. The officers, in turn, warned people that they were part of an illegal assembly and told them to leave, and unleashed tear gas to disperse the crowds.
Along the way, protesters trashed discount grocery shops and a restaurant chain because of what they say is the pro-Beijing ownership of the companies. They also set fire to ATMs and branches of mainland Chinese banks, setting off sprinklers in at least two, as well as a shop selling products from Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi.
The police used a bomb disposal robot to blow up a cardboard box with protruding wires that they suspected was a bomb.
Organizers said ahead of the march that they wanted to use their right to protest as guaranteed by Hong Kong’s constitution despite the risk of arrest.
“We’re using peaceful, rational, nonviolent ways to voice our demands,” Figo Chan, vice convener of the Civil Human Rights Front, told reporters. “We’re not afraid of being arrested. What I’m most scared of is everyone giving up on our principles.”
The group has organized some of the movement’s biggest protest marches. One of its leaders, Jimmy Sham, was attacked on Wednesday by assailants wielding hammers.
On Saturday, Hong Kong police arrested a 22-year-old man on suspicion of stabbing a teenage activist who was distributing leaflets near a wall plastered with pro-democracy messages. A witness told RTHK that the assailant shouted afterward that Hong Kong is “a part of China” and other pro-Beijing messages.
The protest movement sprang out of opposition to a government proposal for an extradition bill that would have sent suspects to mainland China to stand trial, and then ballooned into broader demands for full democracy and an inquiry into alleged police brutality.
Hong Kong descends into chaos again as protesters defy ban
Hong Kong descends into chaos again as protesters defy ban
- Protesters tossed firebombs and took their anger out on shops with mainland Chinese ties as they skirmished late into the evening with riot police
- Police had beefed up security measures ahead of the rally, for which they refused to give permission
UK aims to boost home-schooling safety after British-Pakistani girl’s murder
- Ten-year-old Sara Sharif’s father, step-mother were convicted of murdering her this week
- Months before death, her father had taken Sharif out of school to be taught at home
LONDON: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Thursday called for better safeguards for home-schooled children and said there were “questions that need to be answered” after the brutal murder of a 10-year-old girl.
Sara Sharif’s father and step-mother were convicted of murder on Wednesday in a trial that revealed gruesome details of the abuse inflicted on her, and the failure of child protection services to intervene despite warning signs.
Months before her death, her father Urfan Sharif had taken her out of school to be taught at home, after Sara’s teacher reported her bruises to child services.
At the time, child services had probed the incident but did not take any action.
Starmer said the “awful” case was “about making sure that (there are) protecting safeguards for children, particularly those being home-schooled.”
The Department for Education said it was “already taking action to make sure no child falls through the cracks” and “bringing in greater safeguards for children in home education.”
The government plans to “make sure that schools and teachers are involved in safeguarding decisions,” a Downing Street spokesperson said, adding that details would be included in upcoming legislation.
Parents will also need local authority consent for home-schooling at-risk children under the proposed changes, and a register of children who are not in school will be drawn up.
Sara was found dead in her home in August 2023, with extensive injuries including broken bones, burns and even bite marks after being subjected to years of abuse.
She had also been in and out of foster care after Sharif separated from her mother, Olga Sharif, to marry the step-mother Beinash Batool.
Despite previous allegations of abusive behavior against the father made by Olga, Sharif won custody of Sara in 2019, just four years before she was killed.
Children’s Commissioner Rachel de Souza said Sara’s death highlighted “profound weaknesses in our child protection system.”
De Souza said it was “madness” that an at-risk child could be taken out of school, calling for a ban on home-schooling of suspected abuse victims.
According to a child safeguarding report published on Thursday, 485 children in England died or were seriously harmed by abuse or neglect in the year to April 2024.
Urfan Sharif, Beinash Batool and Sara’s uncle Faisal Malik, who was cleared of murder but convicted of causing or allowing her death, are due to be sentenced on Tuesday.
Finland to host EU leaders for defense, immigration talks
- Discussions will focus on “key issues facing Europe in a tense geopolitical climate,” the government said
- Finland has accused Russia of orchestrating a surge of migrants
HELSINKI: Finland’s Prime Minister Petteri Orpo will host four high-ranking EU counterparts in late December for talks on security and immigration, the Finnish government said on Thursday.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis will join the summit, which will take place in Saariselka in Finland’s far north on December 21 and 22.
Discussions will focus on “key issues facing Europe in a tense geopolitical climate,” the government said in a statement.
Topics like “European security, defense and preparedness, as well as migration, instrumentalization of migration and border security” will be on the agenda.
“The summit will provide an opportunity to discuss issues confidentially and come up with ideas for new initiatives,” the statement said.
Finland has accused Russia of orchestrating a surge of migrants after nearly 1,000 migrants without visas arrived at its 1,340-kilometer-long (830-mile) eastern border with Russia in the autumn of 2023.
Helsinki dubbed it a “hybrid attack,” but the Kremlin has denied the accusation.
“Europe has to take greater responsibility for its own security,” Orpo was quoted saying in the statement.
“This means that European countries have to be strong leaders, both in the EU and in NATO. Our greatest threat is Russia, which is trying to consolidate power and sow discord in Europe.”
Tusk says no plans to send Polish troops to Ukraine in event of ceasefire
- Tusk was speaking alongside French President Emmanuel Macron who was visiting Warsaw
- Diplomats said the idea of sending European troops to Ukraine if there is a ceasefire and peace accord between Ukraine and Russia would be on their agenda.
WARSAW/PARIS: Poland has no plans to send troops to Ukraine, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Thursday, amid speculation that Western powers could put boots on the ground if a ceasefire is reached.
Tusk was speaking alongside French President Emmanuel Macron who was visiting Warsaw. Diplomats said the idea of sending European troops to Ukraine if there is a ceasefire and peace accord between Ukraine and Russia would be on their agenda.
“To cut off speculation about the potential presence of this or that country in Ukraine after reaching a ceasefire... decisions concerning Poland will be made in Warsaw and only in Warsaw,” Tusk said. “For now, we do not plan such actions.”
Macron said it was up to Ukraine to decide what concessions it wanted to make for peace, but for Europe to be secure the people of the continent as a whole must take responsibility.
“(We have) the same desire to say to the Ukrainians that... nobody can discuss for the Ukrainians in their name the concessions to be made, the points to be raised, it is up to the Ukrainians to do it, but there is no security in Europe without the Europeans,” Macron told a news conference.
European powers are keen to demonstrate to Donald Trump, who will be inaugurated as US president on Jan. 20, that they are willing to assume their share of the burden to end the almost three-year war in Ukraine.
Finance and foreign ministers from France, Germany and Poland are also meeting on Thursday in Warsaw and in Berlin, just weeks before Poland takes over the rotating EU presidency from Hungary.
The talks in Poland and Berlin will look at how to strengthen financial and military support for Ukraine in the immediate term and how Europe can boost defense financing, including through common debt.
Zelensky visits south Ukraine front line
- “Let the HIMARS not fail, let them hit enemy targets,” Zelensky said
- In a video published on his Telegram channel, he was filmed addressing soldiers in a bunker
KYIV: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited troops fighting on the southern front line in the Zaporizhzhia region, he said Thursday in a post on Telegram.
Zelensky said he had visited soldiers from the 27th Rocket Artillery Brigade, dubbed Ukraine’s “HIMARS division” for its use of the US-supplied rockets.
“Thank you for your service and defense of our country and people. Let the HIMARS not fail, let them hit enemy targets,” Zelensky said.
In a video published on his Telegram channel, he was filmed addressing soldiers in a bunker and awarding some state awards.
Russia has occupied part of the Zaporizhzhia region since the first days of its 2022 invasion, and claims to have annexed the full region.
The regional capital, also called Zaporizhzhia, has been pounded with Russian aerial strikes in recent weeks.
Ukraine’s interior ministry said earlier on Thursday that 11 people had been killed in a missile strike on Tuesday, after rescue workers spent more than 46 hours sifting through rubble for bodies.
Another 22 were wounded in the strike, including a girl aged five.
Russia backs Orban’s efforts for Christmas ceasefire in Ukraine
- Orban made the proposals in a call to Putin on Wednesday, the Kremlin and Hungary said
- “The Russian side fully supports Orban’s efforts aimed at finding a peaceful settlement,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said
MOSCOW/BUDAPEST: Russian President Vladimir Putin backs Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s efforts to achieve a Christmas ceasefire in Ukraine and a major exchange of prisoners of war, the Kremlin said on Thursday, even though Kyiv has scoffed at the idea.
Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine has left tens of thousands of dead, displaced millions and triggered the biggest crisis in relations between Moscow and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.
Orban made the proposals in a call to Putin on Wednesday, the Kremlin and Hungary said, without giving more details.
“The Russian side fully supports Orban’s efforts aimed at finding a peaceful settlement and resolving humanitarian issues related to the prisoner exchange,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) fleshed out details on a potential prisoner exchange to the Hungarian embassy, Peskov said.
Shortly after the Orban-Putin call, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky criticized the Turkish leader for undermining Western unity and appeared to mock Hungary’s peace efforts.
Orban said it was sad that Zelensky clearly rejected the proposals.
UKRAINE CEASEFIRE?
US President-elect Donald Trump, a self-styled master of brokering agreements and author of the 1987 book “Trump: the Art of the Deal,” has vowed to swiftly end the conflict but has given no details on how he might achieve that.
On June 14, Putin set out his opening terms for an immediate end to the war: Ukraine must drop ambition to join military alliance NATO and withdraw troops from four Ukrainian regions claimed and mostly controlled by Russia.
“Russia has never refused peace talks and has repeatedly stated its readiness to resume them on the basis of the Istanbul Agreements of 2022,” Peskov said.
Kyiv has insisted that it also needs security guarantees, namely membership in the NATO military alliance that would prevent Russia using a ceasefire to prepare another invasion.
Russia has said it would never accept Ukraine joining NATO — or the deployment of NATO troops on Ukrainian territory.
