Hong Kong protests persist and tensions rise

Demonstrators try appealing to Chinese tourists . . . 

Tens of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of Hong Kong this past weekend in the latest round of extradition bill protests. Crowds gathered in Kowloon district to try to garner support from Mainland Chinese tourists, many of whom travel to Hong Kong for shopping. Most Mainlanders have been unaware of the protests, as China’s ‘great firewall’ censors such information.

Student unions reject request for talks . . .

On Friday, two of Hong Kong’s student unions turned down requests by Chief Executive Carrie Lam to participate in closed-door talks with the government. Student representatives of Hong Kong’s other six public universities said they had not received an invitation to talk. Most public university student leaders criticized both the closed-door invitation and the government’s lack of wider public engagement. They requested that Lam drop all charges against protesters before they agree to meet. Police have been conducting citywide raids to track down the protesters who occupied Hong Kong’s legislature on the July 1st anniversary of Hong Kong’s handover to China.

Protest spills over into Canada . . .

As was reported by the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post, the protests have sparked a new round of debate in Canada, between young Hong Kong democracy supporters and the older Chinese community associations who have denounced the protests. The debate has been especially prominent in Vancouver, where approximately 500,000 people claim ethnic Chinese heritage.

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