Hong Kong to end year with multiple protests, kick off 2020 with big march

HONG KONG: Hong Kong will end 2019 with multiple protests planned for New Year's Eve (Dec 31) and New Year's Day aimed at disrupting festivities and shopping in the Asian financial hub, which has seen a rise in clashes between police and protesters since Christmas.

Events dubbed "Suck the Eve" and "Shop with you" are scheduled for New Year's Eve on Tuesday around the city, including in the party district of Lan Kwai Fong, Hong Kong's picturesque Victoria Harbour, and popular shopping malls, according to notices circulated on social media.

A New Year's Day march on Jan 1, has been given police permission and will start from a large park in bustling Causeway Bay and end in the central business district.

Organisers Civil Human Rights Front were behind the peaceful million-plus marches in June and held a mass protest earlier in December, which they saidaround 800,000 people attended.

"On New Year's Day, we need to show our solidarity ... to resist the government. We hope Hong Kong people will come onto the streets for Hong Kong's future," said Jimmy Sham, a leader of the group.

The protests began in June in response to a now-withdrawn Bill that would have allowed extraditions to mainland China, where courts are controlled by the Communist Party, and have evolved into a broader movement.

Police said they would deploy crowd control patrols on Tuesday and urged marchers on Wednesday to remain peaceful. In a Facebook post, Police Commissioner Chris Tang thanked his frontline officers for guarding Hong Kong's "safety and stability" and issued a warning to protesters."If you use violence, you will not get public support. We, police, will do all we can to arrest you," Tang said.The latest planned demonstrations come after a pick up in clashes since Christmas Eve when riot police fired rounds of tear gas at thousands of protesters, many wearing masks and reindeer antlers, after scuffles in shopping malls and in a prime tourist district.While the protests - now in their seventh month - have lessened in intensity and size in recent weeks, their frequency has held up, with marches or rallies occurring almost daily in the former British colony.Hundreds of people gathered in the central district on Monday night to remember people that have been killed or injured during the protests.More than 2,000 protesters have been injured since June.While there is no official count of deaths, student Chow Tsz-lok died after a high fall during a rally in November. Multiple suicides have been linked to the movement."For most Hong Kong people, Christmas and New Year's don't mean anything to us anymore," said Roger Mak, a 35-year old who attended Monday's rally.

"What we're fighting for is our future," he said, adding that he planned to attend both protests scheduled this week.Police arrested 34 protesters over the weekend and used pepper spray to break up a gathering aimed at disrupting retail business near the border with mainland China.

More than 6,000 protesters have been arrested since challenges began to the extradition Bill, seen as an example of meddling by Beijing in freedoms promised to the special administrative region when Britain returned Hong Kong to China in 1997.China denies the claims and says it is committed to the "one country, two systems" formula put in place at that time, and blames foreign countries including Britain and the United States for inciting unrest.The protests have battered Hong Kong's economy, already reeling from the fallout of the US-China trade war. Trade figures on Monday showed exports falling 1.4 per cent year-on-year in November and imports dropping 5.8 per cent, with both set for a clean sweep of negative monthly figures in 2019.Paul Chan, the city's financial secretary, said on Sunday that a fall in GDP in the fourth quarter was "unavoidable".To alleviate the "pain" of the economic downturn, he said the government's budget in February would focus on boosting the economy, protecting unemployment and easing the "plight" of the people and enterprises. 

Hong Kong police fire tear gas during mass New Year's day march

In the Wanchai bar district, some protesters had spray-painted graffiti and smashed cash machines in an HSBC bank branch when plainclothes police moved in, pepper-spraying crowds in a tense face-off, after which several rounds of tear gas were fired.

Protesters have directed their ire at the global banking group HSBC saying that it had closed an account that had been a fund-raising platform for the protest movement, a claim the bank has strongly denied.

Hong Kong has been embroiled in more than six months of anti-government protests that have now spilled into 2020, with protesters demands including full democracy and an independent inquiry into allegations of police brutality

Thousands of anti-government protesters earlier gathered on a grass lawn in Victoria Park under grey skies. Citizens young and old, many dressed in black and some masked, carried signs such as "Freedom is not free" before setting off.

"It's hard to utter 'Happy New Year' because Hong Kong people are not happy," said a man named Tung, who was walking with his two-year-old son, mother and niece.

"Unless the five demands are achieved, and police are held accountable for their brutality, then we can't have a real happy new year," he added, referring to the push for concessions from the government including amnesty for the more than 6,500 people arrested so far.


The march is being organised by the Civil Human Rights Front, a group that arranged a number of marches last year that drew millions.

Along the route, a number of newly elected pro-democracy district politicians mingled with the crowds on their first day in office, some helping collect donations to assist the movement.

"The government has already started the oppression before the New Year began ... whoever is being oppressed, we will stand with them," said Jimmy Sham, one of the leaders of the Civil Human Rights Front.

Thousands of Hong Kong revellers had earlier welcomed in 2020 on neon-lit promenades along the iconic skyline of Victoria Harbour, chanting the movement's signature eight-word Chinese protest couplet - "Liberate Hong Kong. Revolution of our Time" - for the final eight seconds before clocks struck midnight.

A sea of protesters then surged down Nathan Road, a major boulevard, blocking all lanes in a spontaneous march breaking out within minutes of the new decade. Some held signs reading "Let’s keep fighting together in 2020".

Read also Flood in Jakarta

Overnight, police fired tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannons during some brief standoffs.

China's President Xi Jinping said in a New Year's speech that Beijing will "resolutely safeguard the prosperity and stability" of Hong Kong under the so-called "one country, two systems" framework.

Many people in Hong Kong are angered by Beijing's tight grip on the city which was promised a high degree of autonomy under this framework when the former British colony returned to Chinese rule in 1997.

Beijing denies interference and blames the West for fomenting the unrest.

A group of 40 parliamentarians and dignitaries from 18 countries had written an open letter to Hong Kong's leader Carrie Lam on New Year's Eve, urging her to "seek genuine ways forward out of this crisis by addressing the grievances of Hong Kong people."

The protest movement is supported by 59% of the city's residents polled in a survey conducted for Reuters by the Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute.

Demonstrations have grown increasingly violent in recent months, at times paralyzing the Asian financial centre.

Protesters have thrown petrol bombs and rocks, with police responding with tear gas, water cannon, pepper spray, rubber bullets and occasional live rounds. There have been several injuries.

Flood took over some part of Jakarta

 Activities has been grounded to a halt in the main capital city of Indonesia - Jakarta due to heavy rainfall that started on the night of the new year 2020 eve and ended in the following morning.
Many people have evacuated their homes in the face of the flood, The flood had rendered many people homeless. And many properties had been lost as well.

However, about 5000 people has been affected due to this heavy down pour. This type of rainfall had not been experienced for the past four years.
The Fire brigade are trying their best to safe some life and properties. The government of Jakarta had expressed concern about the danger of an epidemic to be erupted as a result and called for an assistance for an immediate response to abort any consequences of such from been occurred.

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