Thousands of protesters in Hong Kong on Sunday chanted the US national anthem and called on President Trump to “liberate” the Chinese-ruled city.
The throngs, wearing black shirts and masks, waved American flags, carried posters that read, “President Trump, please liberate Hong Kong” and sang “The Star-Spangled Banner” as they marched to the US Consulate under the watchful eyes of riot police.
“Hong Kong is at the forefront of the battle against the totalitarian regime of China,” Panzer Chan, one of the organizers of the march, told the Associated Press. “Please support us in our fight.”
Defense Secretary Mark Esper counseled Beijing to use “restraint” in its dealing with Hong Kong, a British colony that was returned to Chinese rule in 1997.
“We would obviously urge restraint and not to act, and to sit down and talk with the protesters and resolve the differences,” Esper said at a press conference in Paris on Saturday.
The Sunday protests began peacefully but later turned violent when police fired tear gas to disperse the crowds that converged on the city’s Central District, where banks, jewelry stores and high-end clothing shops are located.
The demonstrators smashed windows, vandalized a subway station, ignited fires in the street and put up barricades.
The city has been in a state of turmoil throughout the summer prompted by an extradition bill that would have allowed suspects in semi-autonomous Hong Kong be sent to mainland China to face trial in courts controlled by the Communist Party.
Hong Kong chief executive Carrie Lam last week said she was formally withdrawing the bill, but it did little to discourage the protests that have since turned into calls for more democratic reforms.
With Post Wires
