Hong Kong protests for Democratic Rights, police respond violently - Live Streams

Hong Kong is currently undergoing pro-Democracy protests, with activists blocking major hubs of the city and causing the police to react violently. Thus far, police have used tear gas, rubber bullets and pepper spray to subdue crowds, but some officers were earlier waving flags stating "Disperse, or we fire." It is unclear what objects they had intended to fire providing the crowd didn't disperse.



twitter.com...

The police have since halted their violent responses, but protestors are still out in the thousands protesting. Here are some live streams:

UStream:

www.ustream.tv...

Youtube (this stream seems to vary between live moments and highlights):

These protests are absolutely insane. There are so many people out there.

A few articles on it:

HK protests - CNN

HK protests - CBC

HK protests - WSJ

China censors images of protests in broadcasts to mainland

It's strange to read the way that these various articles try to paint the protesters in a negative light. It seems that people all over the world are fed up with being oppressed.

a reply to: daaskapital

I just want to mention that your use of the language "causing the police to react violently" is quite wrong. The peaceful protestors have not "caused" the police to attack them with non-lethal weapons, this was an attack against the fundamental right to protest by police who are abusing the people.

Aside from that, thanks for the links. I'm watching this closely and I fear that things are going to deteriorate very rapidly.

Beijing recently told a shocked room of Hong Kong administrators that the fact they were allowed to live was enough. This stunned everyone and it shows the mentality of the Chinese authorities.

There are also reports that the street lighting and TV stations all went dark for half an hour this evening, and no one knows why. This was while phone networks were seemingly being restricted too. Some have speculated that Beijing or Hong Kong authorities are planning a military move to stop the protests, and these things were all a test to try to carry out a military move "in the dark", cutting off communication to prevent the scenes from being shown around the world.

I hope all the journalists and protesters there are not being naive. I hope they are prepared for whatever the authorities do, and I hope they manage to show the truth all around the world.

I really fear that these poor people are going to face an army tonight.

a reply to: Rocker2013

I meant that the act of sitting in on major areas of Hong Kong is what caused Police to react violently.

But yes, things do appear to be deteriorating, and i too, expect matters to get worse.

Look at the SIZE of these protests!!

Loads of bottled water for the protesters. These protests are commonly being referred to as the Umbrella Revolution.

"They can't kill us all."

a reply to: daaskapital


and this would be why China has taken the position it has with regards to Russia / Ukraine.

As I said in the other thread, I am amazed the Chinese police have not clamped down on media reporting.

This is silly, nothing will come from this. Like the chinese government is just going to hand over their absolute power when no ones making them. Do people really think that's how totolitarian governments work?

originally posted by: Chimpout
This is silly, nothing will come from this. Like the chinese government is just going to hand over their absolute power when no ones making them. Do people really think that's how totolitarian governments work?

It happened to the former USSR.

"They can't kill us all".

They can, and they will. With over 2 billion in population, it is a drop in the bucket people. Ask the Tiananmen Square folks.

China is going to have to show the world that they are still communistic, and I believe they will massacre these people just to kill off the British influence throwaways and recolonize with their selected folks (similiar to what they did to Tibet).

This is not over by any means.

As a side note, have you noticed that every time Britain pulls out of a colonized country they reinvented for themselves, shyt like this happens, just saying.

a reply to: Xcathdra
Do you really think that's how totolitarian power structures operate? Don't be silly. The claim that the USSR disintegrated because of the common peoples protests is a pretext. However, I don't want to get into this, it's off topic.

originally posted by: Chimpout
This is silly, nothing will come from this. Like the chinese government is just going to hand over their absolute power when no ones making them. Do people really think that's how totolitarian governments work?

The former USSR managed it, just as Xcathdra says.
Lets also not forget the fall of the Berlin Wall, which happened only because the PEOPLE made it happen without warning and without violence.

How about the American revolution? The English civil war? The French revolution?

There are examples of people power changing the world throughout Human history, this is why it's one of the things a government like that of Russia, North Korea, China and so on are so absolutely TERRIFIED of. They know that the masses can easily destroy their power within days if they worked together.

It's like lions taking down and elephant, or bees killing a Human. There is no fighting back against a swarm of such magnitude. It doesn't even need to be violent, it can be sheer determination which eventually forces those in power to back up and change their views.

Just as there are never enough emergency personnel to deal with a genuine emergency affecting thousands of people, there are never enough police with guns, batons and tear gas to deal with hundreds of thousands of protesters. For every hired goon of a dictator there are potentially a hundred protesters willing to fight it out. How would you deal with those odds?

Once a public movement reaches critical mass, once the numbers are large enough and angry enough, there is nothing the authorities can do to stop them, short of calling in the military and claiming it's some kind of "terrorist" movement (something several despots have tried to do to stop their own revolutions).

If this does turn violent, it will be because the authorities have forced it to. These events usually only become violent when the police use violence, creating the anger for response, which creates the anger for their response, which increases the anger of the people... We see that in almost all protests like this, the people gather, images of them being beaten are out there in the media, thousands more get angry and turn up to support them, the police get more violent... and on and on it goes until you end up either with one side conceding, or you end up in a state of civil war.

A sensible government would realize when they have lost, and realize that they have far more to loose by not listening. Then again, China is not a sensible government, just as the nutters in Kiev weren't. They would rather delude themselves that they can somehow beat it this time than give in and accept that almost every revolution led by the people ends up with the despot removed, and often in a box.

Seriously, how polite are these protesters! They clean up the streets after themselves.



Not only that but I also saw pictures of student protesters sitting on sidewalks doing their homeworks.

"They can't kill us all".
WOW. I"m seriously impressed!

And yet, what is on the news here in the free world? Some actor (Clooney) marrying some woman. Kudos to the people in Hong Kong. Shame on the rest of the world for talking about actors instead of what is really important.

originally posted by: ArchPlayer
"They can't kill us all".

They won't have to kill them all...

Kill a few hundred, brutalize 1k, and jail 3k....

No more protests!

There are still people in jail after Tiananmen square massacre in 1989.

asianhistory.about.com...

Don't underestimate the brutality of the Chinese Communist Government.
The Red Guard killed millions of Chinese people.

originally posted by: olaru12

originally posted by: ArchPlayer
"They can't kill us all".

They won't have to kill them all...

Kill a few hundred, brutalize 1k, and jail 3k....

No more protests!

There are still people in jail after Tiananmen square massacre in 1989.

asianhistory.about.com...

Don't underestimate the brutality of the Chinese Communist Government.
The Red Guard killed millions of Chinese people.

They will kill them all, or as many as they can get their hands to kill. Mainland China wants nothing more than to wipe away the ghosts of the British from the place and these people are just not going to stop. Jail 3K, expect a fight. Kill 2 million, recolonize, done deal.

Hong Kong is a MAJOR economic hub. This would be akin to Manhattan going rouge. The Chinese will have to be very careful how they deal with this.