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SINO DAILY
Banana, bean cake and fertiliser stunts in Hong Kong's legislature
By Jerome Taylor and Su Xinqi
Hong Kong (AFP) June 4, 2020

Hong Kong: a year of unrest
Hong Kong (AFP) June 4, 2020 - Hong Kong has been rocked for the past year by an unprecedented political crisis, born of fears that China is trying to strip the territory of its autonomy and freedoms.

Here is a recap:

- Seven months of unrest

Starting in June 2019, Hong Kong experiences its biggest political crisis since 1997 when Britain handed the city back to China.

Often violent, near-daily protests involving clashes with police are sparked by a draft government bill that would have allowed extradition to mainland China and its opaque judicial system.

The protests quickly snowball into a popular revolt against Beijing's rule after years of rising fears over the erosion of the city's freedoms.

Although the extradition bill is withdrawn, the government does not budge on protesters' demands for free elections, an investigation into police violence and an amnesty for the more than 9,000 people arrested over the unrest in a year.

- Virus calm -

In January 2020 Hong Kong is one of the first places outside mainland China to report cases of the new coronavirus, after it emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019.

But despite its proximity to the mainland, Hong Kong only records just over 1,000 infections and four deaths.

A series of mass arrests and the measures in place to contain the pandemic usher in a period of enforced calm for the pro-democracy movement.

In mid-May Hong Kong extends anti-virus measures limiting public gatherings, including for June 4 -- the day of the annual vigil marking the Tiananmen Square crackdown.

- Heating up again -

But tensions flare again on April 18 when Hong Kong police carry out a sweeping operation against high-profile democracy campaigners, arresting 15 activists on charges related to the 2019 protests.

Rival Hong Kong lawmakers clash on May 8 inside the city's legislature as pro-democracy politicians attempt to scupper a controversial law that bans insulting China's national anthem. The law is eventually passed on Thursday, the anniversary of Tiananmen.

There is more chaos on May 18, when the 15 activists are charged with organising and taking part in unlawful assemblies in 2019. At the legislature, protesting pro-democracy lawmakers are dragged from the chamber by security amid scuffles between rival camps.

- Security law -

On May 22, on the first day of its rubber-stamp parliament's congress, China unveils proposals to strengthen "enforcement mechanisms" in Hong Kong.

The draft proposal will "guard against, stop and punish any separatism, subversion of the national regime, terrorist group activities and such behaviours that seriously harm national security".

An attempt by the Hong Kong government to introduce a similar law in 2003 sparked huge protests and was shelved.

The plan draws rebuke from the West, which says China is eradicating the freedoms it promised the city under the handover agreement.

- Washington takes stand -

On May 24, in the most intense clashes in months, thousands of pro-democracy protesters come out on the streets of the city against the law. Police fire tear gas and water cannon.

The United States on May 27 revokes Hong Kong's special status under US law, paving the way to strip its trading privileges, accusing China of trampling on the territory's autonomy.

The next day China's parliament endorses the law, amid mounting pressure from the West.

Outnumbered and with the rule book written against them, Hong Kong's pro-democracy lawmakers have embraced rotten plants, red bean cakes, bananas and a dizzying array of other weird objects for theatrical stunts inside the rambunctious chamber.

In the latest event to infuriate the pro-Beijing majority, opposition lawmaker Ray Chan threw a foul-smelling fertiliser onto the green carpet of the Legislative Chamber on Thursday.

The incident occurred on the anniversary of China's 1989 deadly crackdown on Tiananmen protesters, and Chan said the jar of brown liquid represented the "stink" of that tragedy.

But it also forced lawmakers to leave the chamber as his mess was cleaned up, delaying a vote on a Beijing-backed bill to criminalise insulting China's national anthem that the opposition was destined to lose.

Hong Kong's pro-democracy camp argues such protest stunts -- coupled with procedural delays like filibustering -- are the only way to voice opposition inside a chamber deliberately weighted in favour of the city's pro-Beijing leaders.

Opponents condemm the actions, saying the disruptions paralyse the law making body. Tensions between the camps regularly boil over with fights and noisy shouting matches routine.

Legislative disruption was part of the justification Beijing gave last month when it announced plans to impose a sweeping national security law on the city that bypasses the legislature entirely, a move that has sparked alarm.

Ahead of its 1997 handover to China by Britain, Hong Kong was promised certain liberties and autonomy for 50 years.

The Legislative Council was part of that deal but it was designed to ensure the city's pro-democracy opposition never held sway

Only half of the chamber's 70 seats are elected.

The rest are chosen by "functional constituencies" -- special interest groups representing industries, corporations, professions and community organisations that reliably vote for pro-Beijing candidates.

As a result, the minority of opposition lawmakers have long resorted to disruption and protests.

- Doraemon and stuffed toys -

The national anthem law -- which will punish insults to China's "March of the Volunteers" with up to three years in jail -- is the latest bill to spark chaos inside the legislature.

The pro-democracy camp used filibusters for months to stop it reaching the floor with fights between rival camps breaking out.

Last week a lawmaker threw a rotten plant at the legislature's president in protest.

Another object thrown by opposition lawmakers in the past is "dorayaki", a Japanese cake made with red bean.

The popular Japanese cartoon character Doraemon uses the cakes to get people to tell the truth. As a result Hong Kong lawmakers use dorayaki as a way to accuse their rivals of lying.

Other symbols have required less explanation.

In 2008, a banana was thrown at the city's leader in protest at cuts to allowances for the elderly as opponents warned the poorest wouldn't be able to afford fresh fruit.

Protests inside the legislature have also sparked constitutional crises.

In 2016, a group of newly elected opposition lawmakers deliberately fluffed their oath-taking or held protest banners.

That prompted Beijing to declare the oaths invalid and the lawmakers were later kicked out of office by the city's courts.

Hong Kong's penchant for hurling symbolic objects exists outside of the legislature as well.

In 2013, a protester threw a cuddly wolf teddy bear bought from Ikea at former leader Leung Chun-ying.

Leung was dubbed a "wolf" because his family name is similar to the word for wolf in Chinese and his critics disliked his political cunning. The name Ikea had given the stuffed toy also sounded close to an expletive in Cantonese.

The toy swiftly sold out at the city's Ikea branches.


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SINO DAILY
UK's Johnson offers visas for millions in Hong Kong
London (AFP) June 2, 2020
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Tuesday he would offer millions of Hong Kongers visas and a possible route to UK citizenship if China persists with its national security law. "Many people in Hong Kong fear their way of life - which China pledged to uphold - is under threat," he wrote in an article for The Times newspaper and the South China Morning Post. "If China proceeds to justify their fears, then Britain could not in good conscience shrug our shoulders and walk away; instead we ... read more

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