Inside the Hong Kong Polytechnic University's
Jockey Club Auditorium in happier times
View (including of the upper section of the International
Commerce Centre) from the campus one fine day last year
The Cross Harbour Tunnel re-opened today after having been out of commission for two weeks as a result of conflicts between pro-democracy protesters and the police spilling over into the area near its Kowloonside entrance and exit. The siege of PolyU is not over though. However, it seems that there actually aren't that many people still on campus; with an approximately 50 strong civilian team searching for remaining protesters on Tuesday only coming across one person and a team double the size not having encountered a single person today.
With an uneasy peace prevailing at PolyU along with the rest of Hong Kong over the past few days, there have been multiple calls made for the sensely siege to end and release of the remaining individually effectively trapped there by the police. But rather than retreat from the scene, the police have announced their intent to set foot on the university campus tomorrow.
In other words: instead of the results of Sunday's District Council Election giving them some pause and reason to question -- or even reverse -- their actions thus far, it seems that Carrie Lam is continuing to be deaf to pro-democracy protesters' demands and the government, including its police arm, are going to continue to provoke already angry people. Indeed, in recent days, harsh sentences have been meted out to protesters involved in the 2016 "Fishball Revolution" as well as this summer and news of it looking into requiring civil servants to take oaths of allegiance indicates that the government actually is doubling down in its actions against seekers of democracy who wish to exercise freedoms supposedly guaranteed them in the Basic Law.
Unsurprisingly then, the anti-government protests have resumed in various parts of Hong Kong, with more and bigger ones planned over the upcoming days. And adding to appearances at Hong Kong protests of (individuals dressed as) Captain America and Kumamon, one can now add Doraemon: spotted conducting performances of Glory to Hong Kong at Central yesterday and at another mall singalong this evening, this one in Causeway Bay!
(Almost needless to say: I sincerely hope that Hong Kong protesters can retain their sense of humor, and that the police don't go crazy once more doing such as fire thousands of rounds of tear gas in a single day. Actually, it's really nuts that the latter don't seem to have realized yet -- or plain don't care -- that their doing so only makes more Hong Kongers more determined to rebel against a government that is not serving the majority of the population.)
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