Hong Kong protesters attack Britain’s response to extradition outcry as pressure from Beijing grows Sophia Yan,
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/06/13/hong-kong-protesters-attack-britains-response-erosion-rights/
Hong Kong demonstrators are calling on the UK to voice stronger opposition against the controversial extradition that triggered mass protests and rare scenes of violence.
On the day after hundreds of thousands took to the streets to block parliament from debating the proposed laws, some protesters turned their ire to the city’s former colonial rulers.
“Is Britain going to honour its promise to the Hong Kong people that our way of life will not be threatened after they handed us over to the Chinese?” Jessica Yeung, 50, a university professor on a hunger strike by the city’s main government building, told The Telegraph.
“Britain told us to trust them, so we trusted them,” she said, as rows of riot police watched a few metres away. But the UK “has let us down terribly”.
Protesters surrounded the Hong Kong parliament on Wednesday demanding city leaders scrap a plan to send individuals to face trial in mainland China’s murky legal system, where the ruling Communist Party controls the courts.
It’s the latest in a string of developments they worry are fast eroding liberties.
Hong Kong has long had a complicated relationship with the UK. Life under British rule for the Chinese could be harsh for some, but many have long attributed a robust capitalist system and strong rule of law to the British.
Under the 1997 Sino-British Joint Declaration, the “one country, two systems” principle guaranteed the Communist system of China would not be practiced in Hong Kong, where things were meant to remain the same for “at least” 50 years.
But 22 years in, many say those rights are being infringed on by Beijing, and that the UK must take responsibility in holding China to account.
Some protesters waved the Union Jack flag in an act of defiance during Wednesday’s protests.
“Definitely, we feel betrayed,” Phoebe Ng, 21, a university student, who had also participated in mass protests five years ago, told The Telegraph. “They [Britain] can do more, because it is important for the economy and freedoms,” said Wing Chan, 21, a university student.
“I don’t think it is good for the UK’s interests if the Chinese government completely controls the government of Hong Kong.”
Ms Chan was among pockets of protesters that hung around on Thursday as sheets of rain and grey clouds cast a pall over the city, holding an umbrella that she prepared to use as a shield not against the rain, but the police.
The mood was sombre at the main protest site – the city’s government offices – overlooking a stormy Victoria Harbour.
Just a few hours earlier the police used tear gas, rubber bullets, bean bag rounds and batons to disperse the crowds the night before.
Some helped to clear rubbish while traffic resumed on main thoroughfares. The UK has repeatedly urged China to uphold the 1997 bilateral treaty.
On Wednesday, Theresa May sent again the same message, saying the UK was “concerned” and that “it is vital that those extradition agreements in Hong Kong are in line with the rights and freedoms that were set down in the Sino-British Joint Declaration.”
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