Hong Kong police break up first large pro-democracy protest since March

Riot police in Hong Kong on Sunday forcibly dispersed a protest of about 300 people assembled in a shopping mall, the first protest to hit the city since officials imposed a four-person limit on public gatherings due to the coronavirus.

Numerous activists, many of them in black and the majority younger people, crowded the Cityplaza mall with cries of “Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times!”

“People were just singing, it’s very peaceful … we didn’t do anything illegally. Democracy and freedom is more important,” a high school student who gave only his surname, Or, told Reuters.

The gathering was also the first since the arrest of 15 activists associated with the protests, including activist and ex-lawmaker Martin Lee, media owner Jimmy Lai and protest organizers Albert Ho, Lee Cheuk-yan and Au Nok-hin. In addition to the slogans, protesters chanted for the activists’ release, according to Reuters.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo condemned the arrests, saying in a statement, “Beijing and its representatives in Hong Kong continue to take actions inconsistent with commitments made under the Sino-British Joint Declaration that include transparency, the rule of law, and guarantees that Hong Kong will continue to ‘enjoy a high degree of autonomy.”

The protests first began in reaction to a bill introduced by Chief Executive Carrie Lam, which would have allowed the extradition of some criminal suspects to China. They continued for months after Lam withdrew the bill, with demonstrators calling for an investigation into police brutality and for Lam’s resignation, as well as expressing dismay over what they saw as the city’s eroding autonomy.