More violent protests hit Hong Kong roughly 9 weeks after the protests started. Police were seen firing tear gas at protesters. Many protesters call for a reversal of a possible extradition bill which will see Hong Kong citizens extradited to China. On Sunday, Hong Kong police faced a more intense confrontation with protesters and had to fire teargas into a railway station to disperse them. Protesters were also seen fleeing through an escalator in another railway station. Some protesters were seen injured while some members of the Hong Kong police suffered injuries.
As the protests continue, two Cathay Pacific employees were sacked and a pilot suspended after pressure from China accusing the employees of supporting the Hong Kong protests. Cathay has also revealed it would comply with China’s demands to ban any of its employees who support the Hong Kong protests from flights bound for mainland China. On Sunday, Versace was unlucky to be caught across the recent tensions as one of its T-shirts was criticized for listing Hong Kong and Macau as countries instead of semi-autonomous regions in China.
The Hong Kong protests have received a wide support from Hong Kong citizens however, its Chief Executive, Carrie Lam has labeled the protesters as “violent fringe elements”. Thousands of Hong Kong citizens have come out in solidarity for the peaceful marches earlier this summer. At some point the Chinese government was thought to have considered sending troops over to Hong Kong. Many of the protesters say they are against a legislative bill pushed forward by the Hong Kong officials to allow Hong Kong residents to be extradited to China and appear before criminal courts in mainland. They see the move as an attempt by the Chinese government to take away their civil and political rights, an agreement reached until 2047 under the one-country, two-system deal.
