HONG KONG - Hong Kong will end 2019 with
multiple protests planned for New Year's Eve 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 set for
New Year's Eve on Tuesday in areas including the party district
of Lan Kwai Fong, the picturesque Victoria Harbour, and popular
shopping malls, according to notices on social media.
A pro-democracy 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 said around 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The protests began in June in response to a now-withdrawn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 pro-democracy 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 demonstrations planned for New Year follow a pick up in
clashes since Christmas Eve, when riot police fired tear gas at
thousands of protesters following 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, marches or
rallies continue to occur almost daily.
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 pro-democracy 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 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 U.S.-China trade war. Trade
figures on Monday showed exports falling 1.4% year-on-year in
November and imports dropping 5.8%, 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.