Verbal shots fired on a day without street protests in Hong Kong

 

 Messages on one of many Lennon Walls that have 

sprung up in Hong Kong in recent weeks

The following is effectively just a long form version of a Xinqi Su Tweet from today which summarizes some of the more notable events that have taken place in Hong Kong today:-

1) At 2pm, there was yet another "Citizens' Press Conference", during which anti-extradition bill protest representatives said they would reflect on their actions and look for ways to improve in the wake of the airport misteps of Tuesday, reiterated their rejection of the Hong Kong government's claims that the protests are to blame for a slowdown of the economy, and once again called for the government to respond to their five demands in order to end the unrest, including withdrawing the now-suspended extradition bill and setting up an independent inquiry to look into alleged police brutality over the course of the extradition bill protests;

2) At 4pm, Hong Kong Police Force representatives held a press conference, during which they announced that 748 anti-extradition bill protesters have been arrested since June 9th (the day of the first mega anti-extradition bill protest march);

3) At 5pm, the Hong Kong Government announced at their press conference that nearly HK$19 billion sweetenerswill be dished out to the public in what they described as relief measures but many see as an attempt to bribe people into stopping their protest action against the extradition bill and such; and

4) This evening, long-established pro-democracy protest platform cum organizer, the Civil Human Rights Front -- which, among other things, organized the peaceful anti-extradition bill June 16th mega protest march -- announced that their planned protest march for this Sunday has been disallowed by the police, with only a rally in Victoria Park being allowed.  (This after Civil Human Rights Front convenor Jimmy Sham had specifically called for a peaceful protest march just a few days ago.)

Oh... and earlier today, Occupy co-founder Benny Tai was released on bail after serving three months of a 16 month sentence that he's appealing; after which he spoke of having been moved by the sacrifices made by many Hong Kongers to defend Hong Kong's core values, and his belief that "the golden era of Hong Kong is yet to come"!  (Caveat emptor: I'm not a big fan of his but I figure the more pro-democracy people out free in Hong Kong, the better!)