Worsening Hong Kong Violence Could Embolden Hawks in China
For two nights last weekend, Hong Kong lawmaker Lam Cheuk-Ting slept on a fold-out mattress on the floor of his office in the Legislative Council and ate congee delivered by his staff.
One of seven pro-democracy lawmakers who faced arrest for disrupting a legislative meeting in May to stop a bill allowing extraditions to mainland China, Lam challenged police to enter the complex and arrest him. They never did, and he voluntarily attended a court hearing on Monday without being detained like the others.
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Lam Cheuk-Ting on Oct. 16.
He took the drastic measure to resist what democracy advocates in Hong Kong see as a growing crackdown on elected leaders, one he fears could get even worse as the protests become more violent. Many are worried that Beijing may exert its authority over the city to postpone district council elections set for Nov. 24 or even bypass Hong Kong’s legislature to pass controversial national security legislation.
Beijing’s “strategies are very clear,” Lam, a former corruption investigator, said at his Legco office after his court hearing. “They’re trying to adopt the hard line approach.”
Hong Kong saw a third-straight day of chaos Wednesday, after police fired tear gas in the Central financial district Tuesday to disperse protesters who blocked main roads. Elsewhere, they lit cars on fire, dropped heavy objects from bridges, threw marbles and makeshift tire spikes on the road and even brandished bows and arrows -- all a day after a man was set on fire