CovOps
Location : Ether-Sphere Job/hobbies : Irrationality Exterminator Humor : Über Serious
| Subject: Statist Violence Returns To Hong Kong As poLICE Fire Tear Gas And Protesters Fight Back Sat Aug 24, 2019 8:15 pm | |
| After a stretch of relative peace in Hong Kong, a standoff between protesters and riot police became violent again on Saturday.
Police fired tear gas after pro-democracy demonstrators blocked roads with barricades made of bamboo sticks and hurled bricks, in the district of Kwun Tong.
In a statement, police said protesters paralyzed traffic and affected emergency services in the area near a police station.
Protesters tore down and dismantled "smart lampposts" out of a fear that they contain high-tech cameras and facial recognition software used for surveillance by authorities in China.
Some used an electric saw, attempting to slice through the bottom of a lamppost, while others tied a rope around it to successfully bring it crashing to the ground, The Associated Press reported.
The government in Hong Kong insists that the lampposts only collect data on weather, air quality and traffic, according to the AP.
There are plans to install about 400 of these smart lampposts over a three-year period, according to a government report.
The latest skirmish marked the 12th straight weekend of demonstrations in Hong Kong and ended nearly two weeks of relative calm, according to the AP.
Just a day before, thousands of Hong Kongers held hands and formed human chains, in a peaceful bid to gain support from the international community, NPR's Anthony Kuhn reported.
https://www.npr.org/2019/08/24/754000173/violence-returns-to-hong-kong-as-police-fire-tear-gas-and-protesters-fight-back
|
|