HONG KONG - Hundreds of anti-government protesters and their supporters gathered outside a tiny restaurant in Hong Kong for an unconventional Christmas dinner, sharing paper plates piled high with food under neon street signs.
"Hong Kongers are more united this Christmas (than) in previous years," said Glory, the 31-year-old owner of Kwong Wing Catering, as he dished out noodles, fried chicken, and pasta from silver trays.
"Actually there is no Christmas atmosphere (this year), but there is a strong sense of unity," he said. All of the food on offer on Wednesday was free and prepared by the restaurant or donated by several sponsors.
Outside the eatery, hundreds of customers, many of them off-duty protesters, waited in line as tourists and other shoppers crowded the popular Tsim Sha Tsui area.
Jeanette, a 22-year-old university student, slurped bubble tea and pudding with her friend Yoyo as they discussed their holiday plans.
They would normally spend Christmas with their families, but felt this year had to be different. Both women said they had been involved in peaceful protests since the summer.
"We're all family now," said Jeanette, looking around at all of the other supporters eating around her.
"We're here because we want to support this shop, which has supported so many teenagers and protesters on the front line," said Yoyo between mouthfuls of pudding.
Kwong Wing Catering is one of many businesses that are part of the so-called "yellow economy" across Hong Kong that are known for their support of the pro-democracy campaign. Colorful post-it notes with words of support from customers decorated the restaurant's windows.
One of the chefs scheduled to cook at the eatery became a sort of folk hero after cooking for besieged student protesters at Polytechnic University in November.
He was supposed to cook for his supporters on Wednesday, but was arrested by police earlier in the week, according to the restaurant's Facebook page. It was not immediately clear why the chef had been arrested.
Hong Kong has been embroiled in anti-government protests since June which show no signs of abating.
Black-clad protesters marched through Christmas-decorated shopping malls across Hong Kong on Wednesday as police fired tear gas and pepper spray to disperse crowds.
The protesters are angry about what they see as an encroachment by China on the wide ranging autonomy Hong Kong was guaranteed under a "one country, two systems" framework which governs the former British colony.
China rejects such complaints.
Ivan, a 20-year-old university student, said he waited for an hour and a half to receive his hot meal.
"I feel very comforted that someone is willing to cook a meal for us," he said, adding that Hong Kong still had a "festive" atmosphere despite the protests and clashes with police.
"I just got tear-gassed yesterday so I think it's very special."
source: news.abs-cbn.com
A modern city-center campus disfigured by fire and strewn with debris, its windows smashed and graffiti covering the red-brick walls -- a Hong Kong university has become the epicenter of the city's nearly six-month crisis.
Cornered and increasingly desperate, a hard core of young pro-democracy protesters found themselves holed up at Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) late Monday, running out of supplies and options, with police waiting outside.
The English word "freedom" was spray-painted in cursive letters on a walkway, where a discarded piece of clothing lay after some protesters had changed their black attire and made a dash for escape.
Many were arrested by riot police who dragged those they caught along a footbridge, striking out with batons and, in incidents filmed and shared on social media, appearing to stamp on the necks of some prone protesters.
What began as an energetic, well supplied and tightly organized campus occupation -- with a stocked and staffed canteen, yoga mats and blankets to sleep on, and a defiant spirit of volunteerism -- gave way to despair as the siege wore on.
Facing arrest or a crackdown and with nowhere to go, the mood among protesters inside the campus was increasingly desolate as night fell on Monday.
Some slumped on chairs, exhausted from two days of running battles. Others cried, consoled by friends.
"There is no way we can get out of the university safely now," said one 19-year-old, without giving a name.
Supplies of bottled water and fresh food were dwindling, while warnings issued by authorities outside were turning increasingly stark.
Calls were made on phones with depleted batteries throughout the day to family, friends and lawyers. One man sitting alone in a canteen broke off from his lunch and sobbed.
Hong Kong's protests started in June in opposition to a now-shelved bill that would have allowed extraditions to China.
But the demonstrations quickly spun out into a wider pro-democracy struggle, and angry calls for police accountability.
High stakes
PolyU, which boasts a Zaha Hadid-designed tower and a reputation for advancing working-class students, has in the past two days staged the most sustained and intense clashes seen in nearly half a year of unrest.
Sporadic fires flared throughout Monday around the campus entrances, lit by protesters as defensive barriers.
The stakes for those inside are high.
Police, who have declared the scene a riot zone, on Monday reiterated their threat to charge anyone found inside without good reason with rioting -- which can carry up to 10 years in jail.
Local police commander Cheuk Hau-yip urged protesters to surrender and face the law, warning police would use live rounds if confronted with dangerous weapons.
"Don't press our bottom line," he said in a press conference on Monday.
"I did not do anything that can prove I was involved in the riot," the unnamed 19-year-old student said.
"But I am afraid they will use extreme violence against the people in here."
On Sunday police said an officer was struck in the leg by an arrow. Protesters had seized sports bows from university storerooms and fashioned homemade catapults to fire bricks at police lines from PolyU's rooftop, each successful hit greeted with cheers.
Families of besieged protesters kept up an emotional vigil on a footbridge leading to the campus, many holding placards reading "save the children" and urging the public to help stop the siege.
But for those who escaped through a gauntlet of baton-wielding riot cops on Monday, the fear is that the police are in a mood to press home their advantage.
"They want to grab this chance to catch all the radical protesters," Isaac, 18, who escaped on Monday told AFP.
"We are afraid that if we lose this battle... we lose the whole revolution."
source: news.abs-cbn.com
HONG KONG - Hong Kong police Monday warned for the first time in months of unrest that they may use "live rounds" after pro-democracy protesters fired arrows and threw petrol bombs at officers at a besieged university campus, as the crisis engulfing the city sharply escalated.
Protests have tremored through the global financial hub since June, with many in the city of 7.5 million people venting fury at eroding freedoms under Chinese rule.
China has repeatedly warned that it will not tolerate the dissent, and there have been concerns that Beijing could send in troops to put an end to the spiraling unrest.
A day of intense, rolling clashes on Sunday, which saw a police officer struck in the leg by an arrow and protesters meet police tear gas with volleys of petrol bombs, worsened as night fell.
Clashes spilled across Kowloon, with the epicenter around the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU), where scores of defiant demonstrators set large fires to prevent police from conducting a threatened raid on the campus.
They hunkered down under umbrellas from occasional fire from water cannon and hurled Molotov cocktails at an armored police vehicle, leaving it ablaze on a flyover near the campus.
Police declared the campus a "riot" scene -- a rioting conviction carries up to 10 years in jail -- and blocked exits as spokesman Louis Lau issued a stark warning in a Facebook live broadcast.
"I hereby warn rioters not to use petrol bombs, arrows, cars or any deadly weapons to attack police officers," he said.
"If they continue such dangerous actions, we would have no choice but to use the minimum force necessary, including live rounds, to fire back."
Three protesters have been shot by police in the unrelenting months of protests, but all in scuffles as chaotic street clashes played out -- and without a sweeping warning being given by a force which overwhelmingly depends on tear gas, water cannon and rubber bullets.
Fear gripped protesters still trapped on Monday inside the campus -- whose occupation is a twist in tactics by a leaderless movement so far defined by its fluid, unpredictable nature.
"I feel scared. There's no way out, all I can do is fight to the end," said one protester joining the barricade in front of the university building.
Owen Li, a PolyU council member and student, said "panic" had taken hold of the estimated few hundred protesters who remained.
"Many friends feel helpless... we appeal to all of society to come out and help us."
Throughout Sunday, activists parried attempts by police to break through into the campus, firing rocks from a homemade catapult from the university roof, while an AFP reporter saw a team of masked archers -- several carrying sports bows -- patrolling the site.
Violence has worsened in recent days, with two men killed in separate incidents linked to the protests this month.
Chinese President Xi Jinping this week issued his most strident comments on the crisis, saying it threatened the "one country, two systems" model under which Hong Kong has been ruled since the 1997 handover from Britain.
'Squeeze the economy'
Demonstrators last week engineered a "Blossom Everywhere" campaign of blockades and vandalism, which forced the police to draft in prison officers as reinforcements, shut down large chunks of Hong Kong's transport network and closed schools and shopping malls.
The movement, characterized by its fluidity and unpredictability, has started to coagulate in fixed locations, showing the protesters' ability to switch tactics.
The protests started against a now-shelved bill to allow extradition to China but have billowed to encompass wider issues such as perceived police brutality and calls for universal suffrage in the former British colony.
The financial hub has been nudged into a recession by the unrelenting turmoil.
A poster circulating on social media called for the "dawn action" to continue on Monday.
"Squeeze the economy to increase pressure," it said.
Divided city
Earlier on Sunday, dozens of government supporters gathered to clear barricades near the university campus -- a sign of the divisions slicing through the city.
Many residents are wearied by the sapping protests. Others support the Chinese-backed city government.
Some applauded a Saturday clean-up by Chinese troops from a garrison of the People's Liberation Army in Kowloon.
The garrison is usually confined to the barracks under Hong Kong's mini-constitution, although it can be deployed at the request of the city's government to help with public order breakdown or natural disasters.
Hong Kong's government, which presides over a city that enjoys greater freedoms than the mainland, said it did not ask the PLA for help on Saturday.
The choreographed troop movement "has only compounded the impression that Beijing has simply ignored" Hong Kong's unique political system, said analyst Dixon Sing.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
HONG KONG - Hundreds of Hong Kong medical workers and other anti-government protesters rallied in the Chinese-ruled city's financial center on Saturday, angry at perceived police brutality during more than four months of sometimes violent unrest.
Pro-democracy activists have attacked police with petrol bombs and rocks and shone lasers in their eyes. One officer was slashed in the neck with a knife.
Police have responded with tear gas, water cannon, rubber bullets and occasional live rounds, wounding several protesters, many of whom received treatment from volunteer first aiders at the roadside.
A 26-year-old nurse, who gave his name only as Stephen, said police would often come into the hospital where he works on the Kowloon peninsula and stand outside the wards or search for protesters in the accident and emergency department.
"Sometimes they bring their guns and weapons. The patients may be scared. This is not good practice," he said. "The protesters have injuries. This searching must be done after they are healed."
He said he worked as a first aider at protest sites in his spare time.
"I didn't tell any of my supervisors - only some colleagues with the same values," he said. "...But when I see people injured, I have to provide first aid."
Police deny accusations of brutality, saying they have shown utmost restraint in life-threatening situations and issue warnings to protesters with color-coded signs before they respond with tear gas or baton charges.
Protesters are angry about what they see as creeping Chinese interference in Hong Kong, a former British colony that returned to Chinese rule in 1997 under a "one country, two systems" formula intended to guarantee freedoms that are not enjoyed on the mainland.
China denies meddling. It has accused foreign governments, including the United States and Britain, of inciting the unrest.
The demonstrators gathered peacefully on Saturday, occasionally chanting "Hong Kong people, resist."
source: news.abs-cbn.com
HONG KONG—As Hong Kong entered its 20th weekend of anti-government demonstrations, triggered by the now-withdrawn fugitive bill, some Filipino domestic workers say they are facing termination as their employers have decided to relocate overseas.
Hong Kong on Wednesday, Oct. 23, formally announced the withdrawal of the extradition bill that would have allowed the transfer of criminal suspects it does not have an extradition treaty with such as Macau, Taiwan, and mainland China. The demands of the protests have since grown, among them an independent probe into alleged police brutality, amnesty for arrested protesters, categorizing the protests as riots as those convicted could face a hefty jail term of up to 10 years, and universal suffrage.
Among those preparing for her termination is "Roberta" (not her real name), a Filipino domestic worker who has been with her Indian employers for eight months.
Her employers are due to relocate to Singapore within the year, as their family would often find themselves caught in the crossfire between police and protesters in Kowloon. Roberta has been working in Hong Kong for eight years. She is due to return to the Philippines this month for a two-week vacation and will then break the news to her family. Her employment ends on Nov. 24.
"Actually mga June ganyan, nag-uusap na mga amo namin. Maglilipat na sila ng lugar kasi tinanong na rin nila ako kung nakapunta na ako ng Singapore. Sabi ko, hindi," said Roberta. "Nagbigla din ako kasi nagsabi siya na pupunta na daw silang Singapore, na humanap na daw ako ng bagong amo," she added.
(Actually it was around June when my employers talked about it. They're going to move, because they asked me if I've ever been to Singapore and I told them I've never been. I was taken aback when they said they would move to Singapore, that I needed to start looking for a new employer.)
Despite the current political and economic climate in Hong Kong, Roberta is hopeful she will be able to find new employers here. Singapore, for her, is not an option as domestic workers are paid higher in Hong Kong at 4,520 Hong Kong dollars while Singapore does not have a minimum wage set for maids.
The situation is a double-edged sword for Libeth A.C. and Marie M. who arrived in Hong Kong in May and July, respectively.
Libeth and Marie are colleagues who work for a British-Chinese man, who is a lawyer, and Hong Kong Chinese woman hotelier, a married couple in their 80s.
The couple, who owns a 4,500 square-foot house in Clear Water Bay in the New Territories, has told Libeth and Marie's other colleague that they are due to relocate to the United Kingdom this January. The couple employs three maids and two Chinese drivers. They are unaware of the fates of their male colleagues.
While the Filipinos have avoided much of the weekend mayhem, as their rest days are usually on weekdays, but with no fixed day, they consider the termination a blessing because they have complained of abuse from their elderly employers.
"Minsan nanduduro ’yung mga amo namin, hinahagis ’yung plato na aluminum. Nagdadabog. ’Pag may mga basura itatapon sa amin," Libeth told ABS-CBN News.
(Sometimes they would point their fingers at us, throw aluminum plates at us. They would throw tantrums. When there's trash, they would throw it in front of us.)
Marie added: "Masaya po (ako) para makalayo sa kalupitan."
Both domestic workers have children they left behind in the Philippines. They are hopeful they will still find luck in Hong Kong. Prior to Hong Kong, Libeth worked for some years in Saudi Arabia and Qatar, while Marie had spent some three years in the Middle East and two years in Malaysia.
If worse comes to worst, both domestic workers are eyeing Singapore as their next destination.
"Gusto ko sana du’n na lang sa Pilipinas ulit pero wala pong budget. Negosyo mag-umpisa sana kahit sa maliit pero wala pang ipon," said Libeth.
Marie added: "Sa Pilipinas? Mahirap doon. Walang makukunan ng pagtustusan."
For long-time domestic worker Aurora Villahermosa, a mother of one who has been working in Hong Kong for 27 years, the situation has not affected her French employer of 12 years. But she empathizes with friends who have lost their jobs and are no longer in Hong Kong because their expat employers were forced to migrate elsewhere due to the unrest.
"Napakarami dito na affected talaga. Marami na nga nag-ano . . . ’yung mga expat . . . Dami ng mga kaibigan ko nawalan ng trabaho. Mga iba Korean ang amo at Japanese. Mostly Korean," said Villahermosa.
(Many are affected. I have many friends who've lost their jobs, some have Korean employers and Japanese. Mostly Korean)
Villahermosa told ABS-CBN News she also has siblings working for Chinese employers. But all appeared to be well with them, too.
" ’Yung mga kapatid ko Chinese mga amo nila s’yempre nag-uusap kami araw-araw. Napag-uusapan ’yang ganyan bagay. Wala naman. ’Yung amo nila wala naman sinasabi sa kanila na sooner or later," said Villahermosa.
(My siblings have Chinese employers. Of course, we speak with each other every day. We talk about these things, but there's nothing. Their employers have not said anything about losing their jobs sooner or later.)
For Rowena Libunao, an OFW in Hong Kong for 19 years now, says she has been with her employer for 12 years. They've also discussed developments in Hong Kong, but are not letting go of her just yet.
"Sabi niya (employer), if comes things worse (sic), maybe 5 to 10 years, no more helper. But I don't know kung ano totoo. Basta sabi niya, we are safe still. Sabi niya don't worry. You have family here because you stay here for so long. You are my family," Libunao told ABS-CBN News.
(My employer said if things worsen, maybe in five to 10 years, there'd be no more helpers. But I don't know what's true. My employer says we're safe. She said don't worry. You have a family here because you've stayed here for so long. You are my family.)
"’Pag ayaw pa ni amo at sabihin safe ako, stay pa rin dito kasi walang . . . Ewan ko kung may trabaho roon sa Pilipinas na naghihintay. Kung meron, why not, di ba?" Libunao said.
(If my employer doesn't want me to leave yet and I am safe, I'll still stay here. I don't know if there's work waiting for me in the Philippines. But if there is, why not, right?)
source: news.abs-cbn.com
Hong Kong police fired water cannon and tear gas Sunday as crowds held an illegal march, with hardcore protesters throwing petrol bombs and trashing businesses to cap a week of anger after recent attacks on pro-democracy demonstrators.
Authorities had forbidden the rally in Tsim Sha Tsui, a densely-packed shopping district filled with luxury boutiques and hotels, citing public safety and previous violence from hardcore protesters.
But tens of thousands nevertheless joined the unsanctioned demo, showing the movement can still keep pressure on the city's pro-Beijing leaders after nearly five months of protests and political unrest.
In a familiar pattern, the huge rally began peacefully.
But it soon descended into chaos as smaller groups of protesters hurled petrol bombs at police, subway entrances and at Chinese mainland bank branches, and vandalized multiple shops.
Police responded with volleys of tear gas and rubber bullets, and baton charges.
Throughout the afternoon, a water cannon truck chased protesters down Nathan Road, one of the city's busiest shopping thoroughfares, leaving it streaked with blue dye.
The dye in the water, used to identify protesters, also contains a painful pepper solution.
The entrance to the city's largest mosque was bathed in blue when the water cannon blasted a handful of people outside the building. Police said hitting the mosque was an accident.
As the protesters fled, frontliners stayed behind to slow the advance of riot police, setting fire to makeshift barricades. Clashes went on deep into the night.
A Xiaomi and a Best Mart store -- both mainland Chinese businesses -- were set alight.
ACTIVISTS ATTACKED
Tensions were running high after the leader of the group organizing the weekend rally, Jimmy Sham, was hospitalized after being attacked by unknown assailants wielding hammers earlier in the week.
Then late Saturday, a man handing out pro-democracy flyers was stabbed in the neck and stomach, reportedly by an assailant who shouted pro-Beijing slogans.
Many on Sunday's march said they wanted to show they were unbowed by the attacks and moves by authorities to ban public gatherings.
"The more they suppress, the more we resist," a 69-year-old demonstrator, who gave her surname as Yeung, told AFP. "Can police arrest us all, tens of thousands of people?"
Philip Tsoi, a self-described frontline protester, said they needed to keep getting numbers out even though many hardcore activists like him had been "arrested or wounded" in recent weeks.
"What I want is a truly democratic government whose leader is elected by Hong Kong people instead of selected by a Communist regime," he told AFP.
Vigilante violence has mounted on both sides of the ideological divide.
In recent weeks pro-democracy supporters have badly beaten people who vocally disagree with them -- although those fights tend to be spontaneous outbursts of mob anger during protests.
In contrast, pro-democracy figures have been attacked in a noticeably more targeted way, with at least eight prominent government critics, including politicians, beaten by unknown assailants since mid-August.
Protesters have labelled the attacks "white terror" and accused the city's shadowy organised crime groups of forming an alliance with Beijing supporters.
Beijing has denounced the protests as a foreign-backed plot and condemned attacks on those voicing support for China.
But it has remained largely silent on the attacks carried out against pro-democracy figures.
MONTHS OF UNREST
Hong Kong has now been battered by 20 weeks of protests and with no political solution in sight, clashes have intensified each month.
Hardliners have embraced widespread vandalism, while riot police are quick to respond with tear gas, rubber bullets and, more recently, live rounds.
The rallies were triggered by a now-abandoned plan to allow extraditions to the authoritarian mainland, but have morphed into wider calls for democracy and police accountability.
Protesters are demanding an independent inquiry into the police, an amnesty for those arrested and fully free elections, all of which have been rejected by Beijing and Hong Kong's unelected leader Carrie Lam.
Earlier this month, Lam invoked a colonial-era emergency law to ban face masks.
The decision set off a new wave of protests and vandalism that shut down much of the city's transport network.
In the last fortnight, the clashes have become less intense, with the city's subway closing each night at 10 pm.
But protests have continued, with many defying the mask ban during "flashmob" rallies.
Separately, Chinese state television CCTV claimed that "sooner or later," NBA Commissioner Adam Silver will be punished for refusing to apologize for an earlier tweet by Daryl Morey of the Houston Rockets supporting the Hong Kong demonstrators.
CCTV accused Silver of "inventing lies to dirty China," and said that by defending Morey he had "crossed the bottom line by showing a lack of respect to Chinese."
The backlash against Morey's comments has cast a cloud over the NBA's lucrative broadcasting, merchandising and sponsorship interests in China, where it has legions of fans.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
NEW YORK -- China demanded that a Houston Rockets executive be sacked for supporting pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong, NBA commissioner Adam Silver said Thursday, adding that the league's row with Beijing had "substantial" financial consequences.
Rockets general manager Daryl Morey ignited a firestorm earlier this month with a tweeted image captioned "Fight for Freedom. Stand with Hong Kong."
It came right before the Los Angeles Lakers and Brooklyn Nets arrived in China for what proved to be a tense two-game exhibition tour, with broadcasters there refusing to air the games, public protests against Morey's comments and local sponsors cutting ties with the NBA.
Hong Kong has been rocked by months of demonstrations by citizens who accuse Beijing of chipping away at its freedoms, but China has portrayed the protesters as violent separatists and bristled at any foreign interference in the matter.
The backlash in China against Morey's comments has cast a cloud over the NBA's lucrative broadcasting, merchandising and sponsorship interests in the country, where it has legions of fans.
"We were being asked to fire him by the Chinese government, by the parties we dealt with, government and business," Silver said during a panel discussion in New York.
"We said there's no chance that's happening. There's no chance we'll even discipline him."
But the NBA chief said the dispute over Morey's actions had taken a big toll on the league's bottom line.
"I don't know where we go from here," Silver said. "The financial consequences have been and may continue to be fairly dramatic.
"The losses have already been substantial," he added. "Our games are not back on the air in China as we speak, and we'll see what happens next."
Silver hit back at criticism of the NBA's early statements on the crisis, which many saw as overly deferential to Beijing.
"We were saying we regretted upsetting our fans (but) also at the same time supporting Daryl Morey's right to express himself, right to tweet... Maybe I was trying too hard to be a diplomat.
"There was no regret directed to the government (but instead) to our fans, hundreds of millions of them in China."
'AMERICAN VALUES'
Beijing's response to Morey's comments sparked US accusations that Beijing was using access to its vast market as leverage to dictate speech in other countries.
Basketball superstar LeBron James, who traveled to China with the Lakers for the exhibition games, this week said Morey "wasn't educated" on the situation and suggested the Rockets executive should have kept his mouth shut.
But Silver said Thursday that the league had a responsibility to defend freedom of speech.
"The values of the NBA -- the American values, we are an American business -- travel with us wherever we go," he said. "And one of those values is free expression."
Since the row began, the NBA has also found itself under pressure from US politicians and media outlets who have urged the league not to buckle under Chinese criticism or even to withdraw from the Chinese market completely.
"I understand there's a point of view from some that we shouldn't be in business at all in China and I'd say from an intellectual standpoint that's fair," Silver said.
"But if people believe we shouldn't be engaged in commerce in China... I look to the American government."
"Many multi-national corporations trade extensively with China and if that's ultimately how our government feels we should be dealing with China, again, we're a US company."
But Silver feared that the NBA's 15-year effort to build cultural ties with China and expand the game's reach there had been undermined by the Morey dispute.
"I felt we had made enormous progress in terms of building cultural exchanges with the Chinese people," Silver said.
"I have regret that much of that was lost."
source: news.abs-cbn.com
TOKYO -- NBA commissioner Adam Silver defended the league's response to the Houston Rockets general manager's tweet backing Hong Kong democracy protests, telling Japan's Kyodo News that his organization supports freedom of expression without necessarily endorsing a point of view.
Daryl Morey apologized on Monday for any hurt caused by the tweet that he quickly deleted over the weekend, but his support for the protests in the Chinese-ruled city angered Beijing, Chinese fans and the team's partners in a key NBA market.
The National Basketball Association issued a statement saying it regretted Morey's remarks, rankling U.S. lawmakers, who accused the league of buckling under Chinese pressure for the sake of business.
It also disappointed some who see the NBA as the most progressive U.S. sports league. Silver has urged players to speak out on issues of concern, including police brutality and gun violence.
But Silver told Kyodo News in an interview the league's stance was firm that members of the NBA community were free to express themselves and that the league backed their right to do so.
"There are the values that have been part of this league from its earliest days, and that includes free expression," Silver, in Japan for a preseason game on Tuesday between the Rockets and the Toronto Raptors, told Kyodo.
"I think as a values-based organization that I want to make it clear ... that Daryl Morey is supported in terms of his ability to exercise his freedom of expression," he told the news agency. "I accept that it is also Chinese governments' and Chinese businesses' right to react to those words and, at least from my long-time experience in the NBA, it will take some time to heal some of these issues."
Silver said the league also supported Brooklyn Nets owner and Alibaba Group co-founder Joseph Tsai, who issued a lengthy statement criticizing Morey's tweet.
A preseason game between the Nets and the Los Angeles Lakers is set for Thursday in Shanghai. However, organizers abruptly cancelled a Tuesday media event in the city without giving an explanation.
Several Chinese celebrities also announced on China's Twitter-like Weibo service that they would not attend an NBA-organized "fans' night" Wednesday evening.
Actor and singer Evan Li said in a statement posted on his Weibo account that he would boycott the event, saying "the motherland always stands above everything."
The NBA is believed to earn billions of yuan a year from its Chinese merchandise sales, and fans said the league needed to take action.
"If the NBA doesn't do anything about this matter, about Morey supporting Hong Kong independence, then should we think about how does the NBA view the Chinese market and Chinese fans?" said Zhang Jinru, a Beijing high school student.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
HONG KONG, China -- The majority of Hong Kong's subway stations remained closed Sunday as the city braced for more protests with pro-democracy activists vowing to hit the streets and opposition lawmakers trying to overturn a face mask ban.
Thousands of protesters staged unsanctioned marches and flashmob protests at multiple locations on Saturday, a day after the city's leader outlawed face coverings at protests, invoking colonial-era emergency powers not used for half a century.
The finance hub has been convulsed by widespread chaos in recent days as hardcore protesters trashed dozens of subway stations, vandalized shops, set fires and blocked roads.
Pro-democracy lawmakers are seeking an emergency injunction later Sunday in a bid to overturn the face mask ban and declare the emergency powers invalid because they bypass the city's legislature.
Last deployed in 1967, the powers allow chief executive Carrie Lam to make "any regulations whatsoever" during a time of public danger.
The move was welcomed by government supporters and Beijing.
But opponents and protesters saw it as the start of a slippery slope tipping the international finance hub into authoritarianism.
"I would say this is one of the most important constitutional cases in the history of Hong Kong," lawmaker Dennis Kwok told reporters outside court on Sunday.
"This could be the very last constitutional fight on our part. In the name of law they are trying to hurt the people and they try to crush the opposition.
"If this emergency law just gets a pass just like that Hong Kong will be deemed into a very black hole."
2 TEEN PROTESTERS SHOT
Hong Kong has been battered by four months of huge and increasingly violent pro-democracy protests.
The rallies were ignited by a now-scrapped plan to allow extraditions to the mainland, which fuelled fears of an erosion of liberties promised under the 50-year "one country, two systems" model China agreed ahead of the 1997 handover by Britain.
After Beijing and local leaders took a hard line, the demonstrations snowballed into a wider movement calling for more democratic freedoms and police accountability.
Lam has refused major concessions but struggled to come up with any political solution, leaving police and demonstrators to fight increasingly violent battles as the city tips into recession.
The worst clashes to date erupted on Tuesday as China celebrated 70 years of Communist Party rule, with a teenager shot and wounded by police as he attacked an officer.
A 14-year-old boy was then shot and wounded on Friday night when a plainclothes police officer who was surrounded by a mob of protesters throwing petrol bombs fired his sidearm.
That night masked protesters went on a rampage in dozens of locations, trashing subway stations and businesses with mainland China ties.
The city's subway system -- which carries four million people daily -- was shut down entirely on Friday night and throughout Saturday, bringing much of the metropolis to a halt.
Major supermarket chains and malls announced they were closing leading to long lines and panic buying as residents stocked up on essentials.
Thousands of masked protesters still came out onto the streets throughout Saturday despite the mask ban and transport gridlock, although the crowds were smaller than recent rallies.
SUBWAY PARTIALLY REOPENS
On Sunday, the subway operator said 45 stations would open but 48 remained shuttered, many of them in the heart of the city's main tourist districts as well as those neighborhoods areas hit hardest by the protests and vandalism.
Online forums used by the largely leaderless protest movement to organize were encouraging protesters to hold an unsanctioned rally in the city's Victoria Park later Sunday.
But with most of the stations in that area of the city closed it was unclear if they would be able to muster decent numbers.
Lam has defended her use of the emergency powers and says she is willing to make more executive orders if the violence continues.
"We cannot allow rioters any more to destroy our treasured Hong Kong," Lam said in a stony-faced video statement on Saturday.
But protesters have vowed to keep hitting the streets.
"The anti-face mask law is the first step," Hosun Lee, a protester in Causeway Bay, told AFP, saying he feared more laws under the emergency order were on the way.
Protester demands include an independent inquiry into the police, an amnesty for the more than 2,000 people arrested and universal suffrage -- all requests rejected by Lam and Beijing.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
HONG KONG - Hong Kong's government is expected to discuss sweeping emergency laws on Friday that would include banning face masks at protests, two sources told Reuters, an unprecedented move to ease months of violent unrest in the Chinese-ruled city.
Demonstrations are planned on Friday against any potential anti-mask law, with multiple protests also expected over the weekend as activists denounce the police shooting of a teenage secondary school student on Tuesday.
Police said the officer involved in the shooting acted in self-defense because his life was under threat. The teenager, the first protester hit by live fire during months of unrest, is in hospital in a stable condition.
Invoking emergency law would allow Beijing-backed Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam to make any regulations she considers in the public interest, including censorship of the media and control of transport.
The government's move comes after activists rampaged across the former British colony in recent months, setting fires, blocking roads and vandalizing shops and metro stations.
Growing opposition to the Hong Kong government has plunged the financial hub into its biggest political crisis in decades and poses the gravest popular challenge to Chinese President Xi Jinping since he came to power in 2012.
Riot police moved in to districts across Hong Kong overnight, firing tear gas at a chanting crowd in a residential area, while rail operator MTR Corp shut several stations as violence escalated.
All stations were operating normally on Friday morning.
Any implementation of emergency law could further antagonize demonstrators already angry at what they perceive as creeping interference by Beijing in their city's affairs despite a promise of autonomy in the "one country, two systems" formula under which Hong Kong returned to China in 1997.
China dismisses accusations it is meddling and has accused foreign governments, including the United States and Britain, of stirring up anti-China sentiment.
Police, who have responded to petrol bomb-throwing protesters with tear gas, water cannon and, on Tuesday, live ammunition, had urged the government to impose curfews to help maintain public order.
The government declined to comment on whether it was considering imposing emergency laws, stating they would study existing legislation to cope with the protests.
Authorities have already loosened guidelines on the use of force by police, according to documents seen by Reuters.
Black-clad protesters, who typically wear masks to shield their appearance, have targeted police, who in turn have been accused of excessive force and heavy-handed tactics. Police say they have shown restraint in the face of increased violence.
Pro-Beijing groups have also been pushing for legislation to ban face masks at public demonstrations.
The protests began over a now-withdrawn extradition bill, which would have allowed people to be sent to mainland China for trial, and have intensified markedly since June. They have also evolved into wider calls for democracy, among other demands.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
HONG KONG - Hong Kong police shot a pro-democracy protestor in the chest on Tuesday as violent clashes erupted across the city hours after China held a massive military parade in Beijing to celebrate 70 years of Communist Party rule.
It was the first such injury from a live round in nearly four months of increasingly violent protests and threatened to strip the spotlight from China’s carefully-choreographed birthday party, designed to underscore its status as a global superpower.
While President Xi Jinping took salutes from some 15,000 troops in the capital, pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong threw eggs at his portrait, with tens of thousands of people defying police orders to disperse.
Running battles raged for hours across multiple locations, with some hardcore protesters hurling rocks and Molotov cocktails, while police responded for the most part with tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannon.
But in one area north of the skyscraper district, a police officer unloaded his weapon at close range into a young man, video footage showed.
"An officer discharged his firearm after coming under attack and a protester was struck in the chest in Tsuen Wan district today," a police source said, requesting anonymity.
The wounded protester received initial first aid from officers before paramedics arrived and took him to hospital, the source added.
Many of the fights in the city were especially fierce with police in one district having corrosive liquid thrown at them and officers in another area retreating into a town hall from projectile-throwing crowds.
Burning barricades sent a pall of black smoke over the city, a regional hub for some of the world's biggest banks.
The violence cast a shadow over the lavish parade in Beijing where tanks, new nuclear missiles and a supersonic drone paraded down the Avenue of Eternal Peace as Xi and other Communist Party leaders watched from a rostrum overlooking Beijing's Tiananmen Square.
The event was meant to showcase China's journey from a poor nation broken by war to the world's second-largest economy.
New weapons
Xi, who wore the distinctive "Mao suit", delivered a speech invoking the "Chinese dream" of national rejuvenation -- his grand vision of restoring the country to perceived past glory.
"There is no force that can shake the foundation of this great nation," Xi said from the Tiananmen rostrum where Chairman Mao Zedong proclaimed the People's Republic of China on October 1, 1949.
Helicopters flew in a "70" formation over the city as troops goose-stepped across Tiananmen Square in what state media described as the country's biggest-ever military parade, featuring 580 pieces of armament and 160 aircraft.
The People's Liberation Army brought out its newest hardware, including the DF-41, a nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missile with range enough to reach the entire United States, and the DF-17, a launcher for a hypersonic glider.
Warplanes including the J-20 stealth fighter soared through the smog-choked skies, and state media said a high-altitude, high-speed reconnaissance drone made a public appearance for the first time.
"The party hopes that this occasion will add to its legitimacy and rally support at a time of internal and external challenges," Adam Ni, China researcher at Macquarie University in Sydney, told AFP.
US trade war negotiations have dragged on, and African swine fever has raced through the country's pig supply, sending pork prices soaring.
But a major headache remains Hong Kong.
Despite increasing levels of violence, there is still huge public support for a movement that presents the most serious threat to Beijing's rule since Britain returned it to China in 1997.
In his speech, Xi said China "must adhere" to the one country, two systems policy governing Hong Kong and "maintain the long-term prosperity and stability" of the city.
He also called for the "peaceful development" of relations with self-governed Taiwan but also reiterated his determination to seize the island, by force if necessary.
Mao portrait
The Beijing festivities continued with a pageant involving 100,000 civilians and 70 floats depicting China's greatest achievements.
A giant portrait of Mao, followed by those of past leaders and Xi, streamed across the avenue as the president and other officials waved.
Replicas of a space rocket, a homegrown passenger plane and high-speed trains were followed by smiling ethnic minorities -- imagery that glosses over accusations of human rights abuses in the frontier regions of Tibet and Xinjiang.
Party survives
The Communist Party has repeatedly defied the odds to remain in power for seven decades.
Under Mao, tens of millions of people died during the disastrous Great Leap Forward, and the country was plunged into violent chaos during the decade-long Cultural Revolution.
After Mao's death in 1976, the party launched the reform and opening-up policy under paramount leader Deng Xiaoping, starting decades of breakneck growth and development.
But the party retained a stranglehold on power, sending troops to end the biggest challenge to its rule in 1989 when pro-democracy protesters occupied Tiananmen Square.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
HONG KONG - Just before midnight in Hong Kong's Mong Kok district, a slight man in his seventies peels away from a crowd of protesters jeering at police. Behind him, a young woman calls out, "Be safe!"
They make an improbable pair: she a smartly dressed 24-year-old; he an elderly activist who has for decades been sleeping on the streets of one of the wealthiest – and most unequal – cities on earth.
Bringing the two together is a movement that began in June with protests against a bill that would have allowed extradition to mainland China. The proposed legislation has since been withdrawn.
The demonstrations have since spiraled into a struggle over the future of the Chinese-ruled city that has drawn people from a broad cross-section of society. Some live on the breadline, but they have set aside their grievances to support a movement they hope will secure a better future for all.
"Even though we are poor, we still support the 5 demands," said the 73-year-old, Lou Tit-Man, referring to a 5-point agenda that includes calls for universal suffrage and for hundreds of arrested protesters to be pardoned.
While others organize on encrypted apps like Telegram, Lou Tit-Man follows news of the demonstrations on his shortwave radio, one of the few possessions he has managed to keep from thieves, along with a mask picked up after one scuffle.
Known locally as "Iron Man", a play on his Chinese name and reputation for resilience, he spent 4 months in jail during the 2014 "Umbrella Movement" that paralyzed the city but failed to win major concessions from Beijing.
In his shirt pocket he carries a crumpled copy of an article about him in a local newspaper, relating how he spent his government subsidies to buy food and water for the mostly young protesters.
"I want the next generation to have a better life," he said, "I put all my heart and soul into the social movement."
This year's rallies have brought thousands of people onto the streets weekend after weekend, shouting slogans like "stand with Hong Kong" and "revolution of our time" that express a growing discontent with what is seen as creeping Chinese interference in the city.
The government has called for dialogue and said it is willing to "take forward constitutional development" in accordance with the law.
Recent demonstrations have often erupted into violence, with black-clad protesters setting fires and vandalizing metro stations as police fired tear gas, pepper spray, and water cannon.
More turmoil is expected ahead of Oct 1., when Beijing plans lavish celebrations to mark 70 years of the People's Republic.
Authorities describe the participants as "rioters" controlled by external instigators. A recent police tally of the hundreds arrested showed the youngest was 13, the eldest in their eighties.
Many taking to the streets are students, but others are teachers, pilots, nurses, chefs and cleaners and workers from the poorest districts of the city. They include rough sleepers and residents of the crowded subdivided flats that stand in the shadows of skyscrapers.
ECONOMIC WOES
While much of the anger driving the protests stems from political grievances – especially over the implementation of the "one country, 2 systems" agreement under which Hong Kong was handed back to China, promising a high degree of autonomy – analysts say it also has roots in economic woes.
A survey by a local university found 84 per cent of protesters said they were angry about class inequality and 92 per cent thought the wealth gap was unreasonable.
Graffiti laments the prohibitive cost of housing – the most expensive in the world – and the issue was raised in a community dialogue with Chief Executive Carrie Lam on Thursday night.
The city of 7.4 million, built up from a fishing village by British colonizers in the pursuit of wealth, is now home to more billionaires than any other in the world barring New York, but one in 5 of its people live in poverty.
Income inequality recently reached its highest level in more than four decades, according to government data.
In Sham Shui Po, the poorest of Hong Kong's districts, parks are crowded with men sleeping on mattresses or benches. Many are elderly and in poor health, with rashes and bone-thin limbs. Nearby, women push fluffy dogs in prams.
"The affluent people just take everything from poor people," said Lou Tit-Man, who sleeps in a rough neighborhood where he said he has been beaten up by members of Chinese triads, or gangs.
"In the long-term I want Hong Kong to become an equal society," he said.
Ng Wai Tung, a social worker, said the city's "sky-rocketing rent" was fueling homelessness and a housing crisis the government was failing to tackle.
An acute housing shortage means people wait, on average, at least five years for public housing. Most young people live with their parents and more than 200,000 are packed into subdivided units, known as "coffin cubicles" and "cage homes", for which they pay the equivalent of more than $500 per month.
Authorities vowed to build 280,000 public flats by 2027 but have said they will fall short of that goal.
Lam said on Friday she would focus on solutions to the crisis in her Oct 1. policy address.
PILLAR OF OUR SOCIETY
"If the government really wanted to help me, I wouldn't have to work two jobs and live in a subdivided area," said 60-year-old Ip, a cleaner at a university, who moved to Hong Kong from mainland China in her thirties.
She pays $5,000 ($637) a month for a dark room in Sham Shui Po which barely fits the bed she shares with her husband, who is ill and cannot work. The roof leaks.
She formed tight bonds with students after taking part in the 2014 demonstrations, to the chagrin of her husband and family.
"There were some protesters that I didn't know who treated me so well. They chatted with me and were very peaceful," she said.
"These young people were beaten by the police ... They were willing to sacrifice themselves to safeguard a better future for Hong Kong."
Her parents in the mainland tell her she has been brainwashed by foreign forces. But when she visits them in Guangdong province, and sees them glued to state TV coverage of the protests, she thinks it is they who are misinformed.
"I keep arguing with people who don't support the students," she said. "They are the most important pillar of our society. I must help them."
Outside the police station in Mong Kok, the crowd watches as Lou Tit-Man scrawls slogans like, "Stop police brutality" and "Step down, Carrie Lam". He writes the messages on scraps of paper he finds on the street and puts them up near the station.
Every night, the police clear the area. "Afterwards I will make new ones," he said with a grin. (Reporting by Poppy Elena McPherson; Additional reporting by Angie Teo; Editing by Mike Collett-White)
source: news.abs-cbn.com
HONG KONG - Starbucks has emerged as the latest brand to fall foul of Hong Kong's pro-democracy protesters after a family member of the local restaurant chain that owns the local franchise spoke out against demonstrators.
Multiple branches were covered with graffiti over the weekend as the city convulsed with some of the most intense clashes between hardcore protesters and riot police in weeks.
One cafe in the district of Wanchai was daubed with slogans saying "boycott" as well as insults to the police and Maxim's Caterers, a major Hong Kong restaurant chain that runs Starbucks outlets in the city.
The vandalism illustrates the huge pressures on international brands as Hong Kong is shaken by its worst political unrest in decades.
Beijing is piling pressure on businesses to publicly condemn the protests.
Those that do risk a protester backlash, but staying silent risks financial punishment on the mainland, a far more lucrative market.
The boycott campaign against Maxim's snowballed after Annie Wu, the daughter of Maxim's wealthy founder, delivered a speech earlier this month in which she condemned the protests and said Beijing's hardline stance against democracy advocates should be supported.
She was speaking at the UN's human rights council in Geneva alongside Pansy Ho, a billionaire casino magnate who made similar calls.
Their comments were seized on by protesters and portrayed as an example of how Hong Kong's wealthy elite are out of touch with public sentiment and in the pockets of Beijing.
Prominent democracy campaigner Joshua Wong was among those calling for a boycott of Starbucks since Wu's speech and more than 50,000 people have signed a petition asking the Seattle-headquartered company to sever ties with Maxim's.
"We herein urge the Board of Directors to consider whether Maxim's truly represents the social values of Starbucks and terminate the franchise to Maxim's immediately," Wong wrote on Twitter on Friday.
Maxim's did not respond to requests for comment on Monday but it has previously issued statements distancing itself from Wu's comments and saying she is not employed by the company.
Other major brands have been rounded on by protesters, either for pro-Beijing comments made by owners or because the owners themselves are linked to the Communist Party in China.
Yoshinoya, a popular noodle chain, and Genki Sushi -- also owned by Maxim's -- have been repeatedly tagged with graffiti along with Bank of China branches.
Brands deemed to be sympathetic to protesters have also had a torrid time and faced boycotts on the mainland.
Authorities in China tore into Cathay Pacific after staff joined protests, forcing the company to go through stricter regulatory checks.
The moves led to major staff changes on Cathay's board, including the resignation of its CEO, as well as multiple staff being fired for expressing pro-democracy sentiments, something some employees have described as a "purge".
source: news.abs-cbn.com
TAIPEI - Tens of thousands of people took to the streets of Taipei and four other major Taiwanese cities on Sunday as part of a global "anti-totalitarianism rally" in support of Hong Kong protesters who have been demanding greater democracy for the last four months.
Similar rallies were held in over 40 other cities around the world including Berlin, Sydney and Tokyo.
In the capital Taipei, organizers said more than 100,000 showed up at a march that began outside the legislative compound and also ended there.
Braving heavy rain, participants chanted "Free Hong Kong" and "Taiwan with Hong Kong," with many holding placards critical of Beijing's proposal to use the "one country, two systems" formula for Taiwan.
Senior members of Taiwan's ruling Democratic Progressive Party, which has long been identified with Taiwan independence, took part in the march.
Since June, there have been protests almost every weekend in Hong Kong, many turning violent, initially triggered by a now-suspended extradition bill that would have allowed Hong Kong people to be sent to mainland China for trial.
The protesters have now made a list of five demands, which include and independent inquiry into alleged police brutality and democratic reform.
The organizers of Sunday's march said that Taiwan and Hong Kong should object to "one China" and peace agreements with China. "One China" refers to Beijing's view that Taiwan is not a separate and independent country from mainland China.
They also called on Taiwan's government to establish a legal framework to shelter Hong Kong people who flee political persecution.
Before the march began, Hong Kong singer-activist Denise Ho was attacked by a Chinese man who poured a can of red paint over her head while she was talking to reporters.
Undaunted, Ho continued the interview and said she will not be intimidated by what she called "red terror."
"What such dramatic behavior tells us is that China wants us to shut up," Ho said. "But we will never back down because there is nowhere to go."
President Tsai Ing-wen criticized the perpetrators on her Facebook page, saying that her government will not tolerate such "violent disruption" and that no one should ever attempt to challenge Taiwan's democracy and rule of law.
Despite disagreeable weather, the march in Taipei attracted people from all walks of life and of different nationalities.
Also taking part in the march was Paul Lin, cofounder of the Taiwan Youth Anti-Communist Corps and a political commentator.
Lin was born in the Chinese city of Chongqing but fled to Hong Kong, where he became a journalist and a vocal critic of China. He and his Taiwanese wife relocated to the United States and then Taiwan, where he became a citizen.
Lin said what Taiwan can learn from Hong Kong is that the Communist Party of China is not at all trustworthy because it has no problem negating its commitment to Hong Kong.
Another participant, Daniel Lin, said he attended the march because he wanted Hong Kong people to know that Taiwanese people care about them.
The 37-year-old businessman who came to the event with his dog said he hopes all Hong Kong people will be able to enjoy the same level of individual freedom, security and human rights they had before the city was handed over to China in 1997.
Taiwan and mainland China have been governed separately since they split amid a civil war in 1949. Beijing has since then endeavored to diplomatically isolate Taiwan, which it regards as a renegade province awaiting reunification.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
