{"id":1446,"date":"2019-12-23T12:45:09","date_gmt":"2019-12-23T12:45:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/akademiye.org\/en\/?p=1446"},"modified":"2019-12-24T07:17:59","modified_gmt":"2019-12-24T07:17:59","slug":"hong-kong-police-clash-with-protesters-after-uighur-rally","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/akademiye.org\/en\/?p=1446","title":{"rendered":"Hong Kong police clash with protesters after Uighur rally"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

A police officer during a rally in Hong Kong on Sunday in support of the Uighur minority in China. Photograph: Dale de la Rey\/AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

The Guardian<\/p>\n

Police pepper-spray demonstrators after peaceful protest in support of minority<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hong Kong\u00a0riot police pepper-sprayed protesters to disperse crowds in the heart of the city\u2019s financial district after a largely peaceful rally in support of China\u2019s ethnic Uighurs turned chaotic.<\/p>\n

Dozens of police marched across a public square overlooking Hong Kong\u2019s harbour on Sunday to confront protesters who hurled glass bottles and rocks at them.<\/p>\n

Earlier in the afternoon, more than 1,000 people had attended a peaceful rally, waving Uighur flags and posters as they took part in the latest demonstration in more than six months of unrest.<\/p>\n

A mixed crowd of young and older people, dressed in black and wearing masks to hide their identities, held up signs reading: \u201cFree Uyghur, Free Hong Kong\u201d and \u201cFake \u2018autonomy\u2019 in\u00a0China\u00a0<\/span>results in genocide\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Arsenal footballer Mesut \u00d6zil caused a furore in China last week when he\u00a0criticised the country\u2019s policies\u00a0toward the Muslim ethnic minority in the restive north-western region of Xinjiang.<\/p>\n

\u00d6zil, a German Muslim of Turkish origin, tweeted that Uighurs were \u201cwarriors who resist persecution\u201d and criticised both China\u2019s strong hand in Xinjiang and the relative silence of Muslims in response.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think basic freedom and independence should exist for all people, not just for Hong Kong,\u201d said a 41-year-old woman surnamed Wong, who attended the protest with her husband.<\/p>\n

United Nations experts and activists say at least 1 million Uighurs and members of other largely Muslim minority groups have been detained in camps in Xinjiang since 2017 under a campaign that has been condemned by the US and other countries.<\/p>\n

Beijing says it is providing vocational training to help stamp out separatism and to teach new skills. It denies any mistreatment of Uighurs.<\/p>\n

Protests in Hong Kong are in their seventh month, albeit in a relative year-end lull. Many residents are angry at what they see as Chinese meddling in the freedoms promised to the former British colony when it returned to Chinese rule in 1997.<\/p>\n

China denies interfering and says it is committed to the \u201cone country, two systems\u201d formula put in place at that time and has blamed foreign forces for fomenting unrest.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, Hong Kong riot police swept into several shopping centres, chasing off and arresting demonstrators pressing their demands in the peak shopping weekend before Christmas.<\/p>\n

The police\u2019s heavy-handed clampdown on demonstrations and frequent use of teargas have incensed many protesters, whose demands include full democracy and an independent investigation into perceived police brutality.<\/p>\n

The protests, which started in June, have pushed Hong Kong\u2019s economy into recession. Retailers and businesses have been hit hard as tourists stay away amid transport disruptions.<\/p>\n

The city\u2019s financial secretary, Paul Chan, in his blog on Sunday, said there could be a wave of business closures in the new year if market conditions did not improve.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany companies are now clenching their teeth and struggling to maintain their businesses,\u201d he said, adding that he hoped the violence would stop.<\/p>\n

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Source: https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2019\/dec\/22\/hong-kong-police-clash-with-protesters-after-uighur-rally<\/p>\n

A police officer during a rally in Hong Kong on Sunday in support of the Uighur minority in China. Photograph: Dale de la Rey\/AFP via Getty Images The Guardian Police pepper-spray demonstrators after peaceful protest in support of minority Hong Kong\u00a0riot police pepper-sprayed protesters to disperse crowds in the heart of the city\u2019s financial district […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1446","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uyghur-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/akademiye.org\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1446","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/akademiye.org\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/akademiye.org\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/akademiye.org\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/akademiye.org\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1446"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/akademiye.org\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1446\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1456,"href":"https:\/\/akademiye.org\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1446\/revisions\/1456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/akademiye.org\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/akademiye.org\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/akademiye.org\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}