With economy reeling, Hong Kong to give big cash handouts to 7 mn residents

Hong Kong's government on Wednesday said it will give a HK$10,000 ($1,280) handout to seven million permanent residents in a bid to jump-start a recession-hit economy now compounded by the coronavirus outbreak.

Financial Secretary Paul Chan unveiled the cash gift in an annual budget, committing $120 billion to help alleviate the worst economic downtown the international financial hub has faced in a decade.

Hong Kong boasts significant fiscal reserves of more than HK$1 trillion built up over the boom years, a stockpile that the government is now tapping into.

The cash handout alone will cost HK$71 billion but officials hope consumers will plough much of the money back into local businesses.

"Making good use of fiscal reserves to support enterprises and relieve people's hardship is certainly in line with our people's expectations," he said.

Hong Kong's economy is reeling from the US-China trade war, months of pro-democracy protests last year and now the coronavirus: a triple whammy Chan described as "exceptionally austere".

Other measures announced in the budget included profits and salary tax breaks as well as low interest loans for businesses struggling to pay staff wages.

The tourist, restaurant and retail sectors have been hit especially hard with bankruptcies soaring and traditionally low unemployment rising.

"Hong Kong's economy is facing enormous challenges this year," Chan said, predicting a range of 0.5 percent growth to a 1.5 percent contraction this year.

The recession is a major headache for the city's unelected pro-Beijing leader Carrie Lam who currently boasts record low approval ratings after facing down huge democracy protests.

The massive rallies and regular clashes with police that became a weekly fixture last year were dying down before the outbreak began.

But the virus has comprehensively ended mass gatherings.

Yet public anger still simmers in a city where neither its leadership nor Beijing have addressed the issues fuelling years of rising resentment.

Neighbouring Macau often announces universal cash handouts to residents in its annual budget. Hong Kong has historically been more reticent.

The last handout for all residents was in 2011, three years after the global crash sparked the city's last recession.

Last week Hong Kong's government announced a HK$30 billion relief fund for those hit hardest by the virus outbreak, including cash handouts for businesses like restaurants and travel companies.

Chan said the city was set to record a record high deficit this year -- its first in 15 years.

The last time Hong Kong ran a deficit was between 2001 and 2004. Chan said the reserves should see the city through the current crisis "In the medium term, the economic outlook of Hong Kong remains positive," he said.

Hong Kong's Christmas celebrations marred by police, protesters clashes

Hong Kong's Christmas celebrations were marred by sporadic clashes between police and pro-democracy activists on Wednesday as the city's pro-Beijing leader said the festive season was being "ruined" by demonstrators.

Police used pepper spray and tear gas as activists held small flashmob protests in malls and multiple districts across the city.

In Mong Kok, an area that has seen frequent clashes over the last six months, police fired multiple rounds of tear gas to disperse crowds that were heckling officers, an AFP reporter at the scene said.

Pepper spray was also used in at least two malls as police and protesters clashed. Multiple young protesters were detained, some by plainclothes police who had mixed with the crowds, according to live local TV broadcasts.

Wednesday's skirmishes were less sustained than those on Christmas Eve, when battles between democracy activists and riot police swept through a major shopping district for hours.

That evening's unrest was the most serious in what has otherwise been a few weeks of comparative calm for a city upended by more than six months of often-violent protests.

Police used tear gas, rubber bullets and pepper spray on Christmas Eve in multiple locations while protesters responded with throwing sporadic petrol bombs, blocking roads and vandalising businesses deemed to be sympathetic to the government.

Hong Kong's pro-Beijing leader Carrie Lam on Wednesday condemned the Christmas Eve protesters on Facebook, describing them as "reckless and selfish rioters".

"Such illegal acts have not only dampened the festive mood but also adversely affected local businesses."

A former British colony with a sizeable Christian population, Christmas has been distinctly muted in Hong Kong this year.

Swathes of the population are seething against Beijing's rule and the semi-autonomous city's administration as they push for greater democratic freedoms and police accountability.

The months of protest have helped tip a financial hub already battered by the US-China trade war into a recession and intensified political polarisation.

The protests were initially sparked by a now-abandoned attempt to allow extraditions to the authoritarian mainland.

They have since morphed into a popular revolt against Beijing's rule, with spiralling fears that the city is losing some of its unique liberties.

Among the demands being made by protesters is an inquiry into the police, amnesty for the more than 6,000 people arrested and the right to elect Hong Kong's leader.

The city's many malls have become regular protest venues as demonstrators try to cause economic disruption.

Online forums have called for pop-up protests over the Christmas and New Year period targeting shopping districts.

The recent fall-off in violence came after hundreds of hardcore protesters were arrested during a university campus siege -- and after the pro-democracy camp won a landslide in local elections -- last month.

But both Lam and Beijing have refused any further concessions since that electoral defeat.

Earlier this month, a huge crowd of some 800,000 people marched peacefully.

The same group behind that rally have applied for permission to hold a similar march on New Year's Day.

Hong Kong posts 16% fall in November airport traffic, biggest in a decade

Hong Kong International Airport reported its biggest fall in passenger numbers in more than a decade in November, official data released on Sunday showed.

The airport handled just over five million passengers, down 16.2% from a year earlier, Airport Authority Hong Kong said in a statement.

That was the largest fall since June 2009, when the figure fell by 18.7%, data on the Civil Aviation Department's website showed.

There were falls of more than 12% in the three previous months, the Civil Aviation Department data showed.

Hong Kong has been gripped by sometimes violent protests since June. Demonstrators halted operations at the airport for several days in August.

A spokeswoman at the Airport Authority said it had nothing to add to the publicly available data.

Donald Trump defies China, signs law supporting Hong Kong protesters

Donald Trump signed legislation that expresses US support for Hong Kong protesters, a move that threatens to complicate trade talks with Beijing just as the two nations get close to signing a phase one deal.

The bill requires annual reviews of Hong Kong’s special trade status under American law, as well as sanctions against any officials deemed responsible for human rights abuses or undermining the city’s autonomy. A second Hong Kong measure also bans the export of crowd-control items such as tear gas and rubber bullets to the city’s police.

China’s foreign ministry reiterated a threat of retaliation without offering any details. The local government in Hong Kong also expressed “extreme regret,” similar to previous statements it has made.

While signing the bills, Trump signaled that he didn’t want the broader relationship with China to veer off track. He expressed concerns with unspecified portions of the new law, saying they risked interfering with his constitutional authority to carry out American foreign policy.

“I signed these bills out of respect for President Xi, China, and the people of Hong Kong,” the president said in a statement Wednesday. “They are being enacted in the hope that leaders and representatives of China and Hong Kong will be able to amicably settle their differences leading to long term peace and prosperity for all.”

Asian stocks and US futures slid after Trump signed the bill, while the yen nudged higher and the yuan lower. Hong Kong shares were among the worst performers, though declines were still modest at the open.

Investors are looking for any sign that measure will prevent the world’s biggest economies from reaching a deal that could deescalate a trade war that’s dragged on for 20 months. Trump on Tuesday said the two sides were in the “final throes” of a deal that would start to unwind tariffs on about $500 billion in products traded between them.

Trump would like the agreement finished in order to ease economic uncertainty for his re-election campaign in 2020, and he has floated the possibility of signing the deal in a farm state as an acknowledgment of the constituency that’s borne the brunt of retaliatory Chinese tariffs. China is also looking to avoid further damage to an economy growing at the slowest pace in decades.

‘Xi Wants a Deal’

“This is not a fundamental challenge to US-China trade negotiations,” said David Zweig, an emeritus professor at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and director of Transnational China Consulting Ltd. “It’s another notch in US-China hostility, it’s Congress being more assertive than usual, but I think it will be a short-term response, not even a medium-term response. Xi wants a deal, I think.”

Trump had little choice but to sign the bill: The House cleared it 417-1 on Nov. 20 after the Senate passed it without opposition, majorities that would allow lawmakers to override any veto by the president.

Asked if Trump’s signing statement was aimed at the sanctions provisions, a senior administration official said the statement was drafted with all of the bill’s provisions in mind.

Senator Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican, said the law, S. 1838, would give the US “meaningful tools to deter further influence and interference from Beijing into Hong Kong’s internal affairs.” Speaker Nancy Pelosi said it was crucial for the US to speak up.

“If America does not speak out for human rights in China because of commercial interests, we lose all moral authority to speak out elsewhere,” she said in a statement.

“In an overwhelming display of bipartisan unity, Congress passed our Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, and I applaud President Trump for signing this critical legislation into law,” Rubio said in a statement. “I look forward to continuing to work with the administration to implement this law.”

While many members of Congress in both parties had voiced strong support for the protesters who are demanding greater autonomy for the city, Trump stayed largely silent, even as the demonstrations have been met by rising police violence.

Last week, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, called on the president to speak out, saying that “the world should hear from him directly that the United States stands with” the protesters.

China’s foreign ministry had repeatedly urged Trump to prevent the legislation from becoming law, warning the Americans not to underestimate China’s determination to defend its “sovereignty, security and development interests.” Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Zheng Zeguang summoned the US ambassador, Terry Branstad, on Monday to express “strong opposition” to what the country’s government considers American interference in the protests, including the legislation, according to statement.

US and Chinese trade negotiators will continue communicating closely and work toward a phase one deal, Ministry of Commerce spokesman Gao Feng said at a briefing in Beijing on Thursday.

Before a speech at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum in Beijing last week, China’s Vice Premier Liu He -- the country’s chief trade negotiator -- said that he was “cautiously optimistic” about reaching the phase one accord, according to people who attended a dinner and asked not to be identified.

Hong Kong's retail woes deepen as violent protests deter Chinese shoppers

Months of protests in Hong Kong are taking an increasing toll on the city’s economy, with retail sales forecast to decline for a seventh month in August.

The protests and the police response -- both of which are becoming more violent -- have slammed the tourism industry, with visits from mainland China down 42 per cent in August. That collapse has affected shops and the hotel industry, with retail sales forecast to have fallen 14 per cent in August from a year ago and hotel occupancy rates sliding to 66 per cent from 94 per cent in August 2018.

Luxury goods such as jewelry and watches are common purchases by mainland tourists, and the value of those sales slid almost a quarter in July. As the protests drag on and tourists and shoppers stay at home, retailers are having staff take unpaid leave, with some reportedly planning layoffs. Meanwhile, some landlords are slashing rents.

The unrest in Hong Kong is dragging down the luxury industry globally, and brands are re-examining their presence in the city, said analysts.

Bain & Co now sees the global luxury sector growing this year at the low end of the 4 per cent to 6 per cent range, according to analyst Claudia d’Arpizio, while RBC Capital Markets analyst Rogerio Fujimori estimates that most brands will suffer a sales drop in Hong Kong of between 30 per cent and 60 per cent during the third quarter.

The city’s days as a luxury hub are numbered, said Jefferies Ltd. analyst Flavio Cereda, and brands are likely to rethink their presence there. Prada SpA is leading the exodus and plans to close its largest Hong Kong location in Causeway Bay after its lease expires next year.

“Hong Kong is a disaster, like for everybody” said Miuccia Prada, the company’s designer and co-CEO, in an interview after a runway show in Paris on Tuesday.

The Italian company is shifting some marketing investments from Hong Kong to mainland China in the hopes of making up some of the lost sales there, said Lorenzo Bertelli, Prada’s son who is the company’s head of digital communication.

The city’s economy likely entered a technical recession in the third quarter, Financial Secretary Paul Chan said in September. Chan said earlier this week that the government would introduce more stimulus if needed, in addition to higher spending on relief measures. Hong Kong’s government will release the August retail data later on Wednesday.

Cosmetics retailer Sa Sa International Holdings Ltd. said August sales fell 28 per cent from the same period last year and that turnover for the five months ending August 31 will fall about 15 per cent to HK$3 billion ($383 million) compared with a year earlier.

Some smaller store owners have closed down. In Hong Kong’s usually bustling Causeway Bay shopping district, one in 10 stores now stand empty, according to data from real estate agency Midland IC&I Ltd.

Rents in some areas are dropping. Prada SpA’s landlord on Russell Street in Causeway Bay is offering to slash rent by 44 per cent.

It’s not only tourists who are cutting back. In July, shopping at supermarkets was the only major sub-index in the Hong Kong data that didn’t show a decline, meaning consumers spent less on fuel, clothing and shoes and durable goods, in addition to luxury items.

Hong Kong flash-mob rallies erupt as anger mounts over shot protester

Spontaneous flash-mob rallies broke out in Hong Kong on Wednesday as anger mounted over police shooting a teenage protester who attacked officers in a dramatic escalation of the violent unrest that has engulfed the territory for months.

A few thousand demonstrators, including office workers in shirts and suits, mustered in a park and then began marching through the city's commercial district in an unsanctioned rally, chanting anti-police and anti-government slogans.

Hours earlier, hundreds of students staged a sit-in at the school of 18-year-old Tsang Chi-kin, who was shot in the chest by a policeman as he and a group of masked protesters attacked officers with umbrellas and poles.

The international finance hub has been left reeling from the shooting, the first time a demonstrator has been struck with a live round in nearly four months of increasingly violent pro-democracy protests.

Hong Kong was battered by the most sustained political clashes of the year on Tuesday as China celebrated 70 years of Communist Party rule with a massive military parade in Beijing.

The spiralling violence underscored seething public anger against Beijing's rule and shifted the spotlight from China's carefully choreographed birthday party, which was designed to showcase its status as a global superpower.

Running battles raged for hours across multiple locations as hardcore protesters hurled rocks and petrol bombs.

Police responded for the most part with tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannon.

Police said the officer fired at Tsang because he feared for his life on a day that saw his colleagues fire five warning shots from their pistols throughout the city.

"In this very short span of time, he made a decision and shot the assailant," police chief Stephen Lo said.

But protest groups said the officer charged into the melee with his firearm drawn and condemned the increasing use of live rounds.

"The people of Hong Kong are sick and tired of having mere words of condemnation as their only shields against lethal bullets and rifles," a masked protester said at a press conference near Tsang's school.

The shooting was captured on video that quickly went viral.

Opinion towards the shooting has largely cemented along ideological divides with pro-democracy activists condemning the police and establishment figures calling it a justified use of force.

Tsang, who was filmed trying to strike the officer with a pole as he was shot, was taken to a nearby hospital in a critical condition but authorities said his condition had since improved.

A friend and classmate of Tsang, who gave his first name Marco, said the 18-year-old was a keen basketballer who was infuriated by sliding freedoms in Hong Kong and the police response to the protests.

"If he sees any problems or anything unjust, he would face it bravely, speak up against it, instead of bearing it silently," Marco told AFP.

Police said 25 officers were injured in the National Day clashes, including some who suffered chemical burns from a corrosive liquid that was thrown at them by protesters. The liquid also wounded some journalists.

Hospital authorities said more than 70 people were admitted on Tuesday.

Police made some 160 arrests throughout the day.

On Wednesday, 96 protesters arrested during clashes with police on Sunday appeared in court charged with rioting, according to court documents. Their ages ranged from 14 to 39.

The majority were students in their early twenties but other occupations listed included a waitress, a teacher, a doctor, an advertising executive and a cook.

Hong Kong's protests were ignited by a now-scrapped plan to allow extraditions to the mainland.

But after Beijing and local leaders took a hardline they snowballed into a wider movement calling for democratic freedoms and police accountability.

With Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam seemingly unwilling or unable to find a political solution, police have been left to battle increasingly radicalised protesters.

Sentiment is hardening on all sides. Protesters and some local residents routinely shout "triads" at officers who often respond by calling demonstrators "cockroaches".

The protest movement's main demands are an independent inquiry into police actions, an amnesty for those arrested and universal suffrage.

But Beijing and Lam have said they are unwilling to meet those demands.

Defiant Hong Kong protesters vow huge rally despite warning from Beijing

Hong Kong democracy activists are hoping to get out a huge crowd later Sunday in a bid to show the city's leaders that their protest movement remains defiant despite increasingly stark warnings from Beijing.

Ten weeks of demonstrations have plunged the international finance hub into crisis and communist-ruled mainland China has taken an increasingly hardline tone, including labelling the more violent protester actions "terrorist-like".

Clashes have broken out between police and hardcore protesters but the movement has won few concessions from Beijing or the city's unelected leadership.

On Tuesday, protesters blocked passengers from boarding flights at the city's airport and later assaulted two men they accused of being Chinese spies.

The images damaged a campaign that until then had largely only targeted the police or government institutions, and prompted some soul-searching among protesters.

China's propaganda apparatus seized on the violence, with state media churning out a deluge of damning articles, pictures and videos.

State media also ran images of military personnel and armoured personnel carriers across the border in Shenzhen, prompting the United States to warn Beijing against sending in troops, which analysts say would be a reputational and economic disaster for China.

In the aftermath of Tuesday's airport chaos, some protester groups apologised and vowed to hold a huge rally on Sunday.

Billed as a "rational, non-violent" protest, it is being organised by the Civil Human Rights Front, a group that eschews confrontations with police and was the driving force behind record-breaking rallies in June and July that saw hundreds of thousands of people hit the streets.

During smaller protest marches on Saturday -- which ended without the kind of largescale clashes that have become so commonplace each weekend -- many protesters chanted "See you in Victoria Park!" as they left the streets.

The park has long been used as the staging point for the city's years of democracy protests and will host Sunday's demonstration.

Police have given permission for the rally to go ahead but banned a proposed march.

Previous bans in recent weeks have simply been ignored by protesters and have soon led to clashes with riot police.

The protests were sparked by opposition to a plan to allow extraditions to the mainland, but have since morphed into a wider call for democratic rights in the semi-autonomous city.

Under a deal signed with Britain, authoritarian China agreed to allow Hong Kong to keep its unique freedoms when it was handed back in 1997.

But many Hong Kongers feel those freedoms are being eroded, especially since China's hardline president Xi Jinping came to power.

In the last two months millions of people have hit the streets while clashes have broken out between police and small groups of hardcore protesters.

Battles between police firing tear gas and rubber bullets -- and hardcore protesters using rocks, Molotov cocktails and slingshots -- have since become routine in a city once renowned for its stability.

Beyond suspending the extradition bill, Beijing and city leader Carrie Lam have shown no desire to meet key demands such as an inquiry into police violence, the complete withdrawal of the bill and an amnesty.

But protesters remain unbowed, despite the arrests of more than 700 people and 11 consecutive weekends of rallies that have won few concessions.

Beijing has turned the screws on Hong Kong's businesses, pressuring them to toe the line and condemn the protesters.

On Friday, Cathay Pacific announced the shock resignation of CEO Rupert Hogg after the carrier was excoriated by Beijing because some staff supported the pro-democracy protests.

A day later the "Big Four" accountancy firms scrambled to distance themselves from a advert placed in a newspaper purportedly by employees saying they supported the protests.

 

After a violent night, Hong Kong braces for more protests on Sunday

Hong Kong mopped up after a night of violent clashes between protesters and police, with at least 20 people arrested and two more demonstrations planned for Sunday as unrest takes hold in the city.

On Saturday, thousands of anti-government protesters gathered in Kowloon, where police used tear gas to try to disperse crowds and re-open blocked roads. Police stations came under attack as demonstrators hurled projectiles at them.

China’s official Xinhua News Agency said in a commentary on Sunday that the central government would not sit back and let the situation continue.

The protest movement that began as weekend marches has shifted form and become a part of daily life, with disquiet growing in the Asian financial hub. Dozens of people appeared in court last week on a colonial-era rioting charge that carries a 10-year prison term — signaling the city’s Beijing-backed government is heeding calls for a stronger response, bolstered by support from Chinese authorities.

Demonstrations began nearly nine weeks ago over opposition to legislation easing extraditions to China, and demands have since widened to include Chief Executive Carrie Lam’s resignation, the release of people detained at previous protests and an inquiry into the police’s use of force.

China won’t sit back

Police said in a statement Sunday that at least 20 vehicles were damaged and officers’ safety was put at risk when protesters hurled bricks and other objects into the station with “large catapults.” When police dispersed the crowd some protesters hurled petrol bombs and other objects at officers, who fired tear gas to try to quell the violence, police said.

At least 20 people were arrested for offenses including unlawful assembly and assault, according to the statement.

Xinhua said in a commentary that the central government would not sit back and let the situation continue, while reiterating that it’s sticking to the one country, two systems regime. The news agency warned “evil forces which are trying to challenge the central government’s authority, to destroy the one country, two systems bottom line” that they will be judged by history.

The report accused protesters of throwing a Chinese national flag into the sea in an act that is an insult to all Chinese nationals including Hong Kong residents.

Two marches are planned for Sunday afternoon, one in the western side of Hong Kong island, ending in the area near China’s liaison office; the other in the New Territories neighborhood of Tseung Kwan O.

Government Condemns Acts of Protesters

The Hong Kong government in a statement expressed regret over what it termed protesters’ “violent” and “radical” actions, including barricading major roads in the Yau Tsim Mong district and the entrance to the Cross Harbor Tunnel. It said the actions went beyond what a “civilized society” considers freedom of expression. “We express regret over such behaviors which are illegal and disregard the public order and the needs of other members of the public.” Acts that defaced the national flag were also condemned.

Wong Tai Sin residents tear-gassed

Police fired tear gas in Wong Tai Sin, a residential area with mostly public housing named for the nearby temple of the same name. Many were apparently local residents without gas masks or hard hats. They were angry at riot police who made arrests earlier on, including of at least one elderly person. Many remained on the streets as confrontations continued. Hundreds of protesters returned and encircled a police station in the Prince Edward neighborhood.

Police use tear gas in Mong Kok

Police fired tear gas in the densely populated neighborhood of Mong Kok for the first time since the start of the protests seven weeks ago. Lines of riot police faced off against demonstrators who had blocked Nathan Road, a main commercial thoroughfare. Police made progress in clearing many of the demonstrators, though some appeared to have entered into other neighborhoods with a thinner police presence.

A large number of protesters remained in neighboring Tsim Sha Tsui, even after police fired several rounds of tear gas there to try dispel the demonstrators.

Tear gas fired in Tsim Sha Tsui

Police fired tear gas to dispel protesters who had surrounded a police station in the Tsim Sha Tsui area, a shopping district that attracts many Chinese tourists. Protesters had set a fire near the station and hurled bricks at the outpost. Demonstrators had also blocked Nathan Road, the main thoroughfare in Kowloon, from Tsim Sha Tsui to Mong Kok. Riot police were also out in number trying to clear protesters from the Mong Kok district.

Cross-Harbour Tunnel barricaded

Marchers from a rally in Mong Kok broke up into groups with some heading toward the shopping district of Tsim Sha Tsui, where they took over the waterfront Canton Road. Some protesters set up barricades blocking the entrance to the Cross Harbor Tunnel, a busy route for vehicles, TV footage showed. Authorities cleared the barricades but traffic was backed up in a huge jam on the Hong Kong Island side of the tunnel.

Organizers said 120,000 people attended the anti-government march, while police estimated that 4,200 were on the originally agreed route for the rally.

One city, two rallies

Anti-government protesters gathered in a park in the Kowloon area for a 1.5 kilometer (about 1 mile) march to the Mong Kong district on a route approved by police. The park was overflowing with thousands of demonstrators spilling into the streets as police kept a low profile.

In Causeway Bay, across the harbor on the Hong Kong Island side, thousands protesters congregated in Victoria Park in support of the police. Organizers said 90,000 people took part, while the media reported police as saying 26,000 attended.

One of the demonstrators, who would only give her name as Ms Fung, accused the media of supporting protesters.

“If the news is beneficial to the people clad in black, they report it,” she said. The protesters don’t realize the harm they’re inflicting on the economy, she said. “The police are very good compared to other countries.”

Lam Attends Event

Hong Kong’s embattled leader attended a cocktail reception celebrating the upcoming 70th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China at the Hong Kong Cultural Center. Some 20 black-clad protesters waited for her, Radio Television Hong Kong reported. Afterward, she didn’t answer questions from protesters and media about the civil servants’ rally as she was escorted away by bodyguards. People called out to her: “Have you ever responded to us?” “You are ignoring public opinion.” “Do you agree you are hiding?”

‘To Voice My Opinion’

“I am worried about the future of Hong Kong. We are being China-fied after all, despite the promise of ‘one country, two systems.’ I will keep coming out because I am so worried,” said Ms Fung, a 60-year-old retired civil servant who worked as a clerk in the police commissioner’s office for more than 20 years and declined to give her first name. “I want to come out and show that it’s not just the young people and the people who are protesting that are against Carrie Lam, the extradition bill, and the police violence.”

Earlier in the evening, organizers played a video on a jumbo screen that summarized weeks of protests. When it came to July 21 attacks on marchers by unidentified white-shirted men at a train station in the suburb of Yuen Long, some people wept.

My department “serves Hong Kong people,” said Alan Cheung, 28, who works for the city’s fire services department and came to the protest in a black shirt. “What happened in Yuen Long station and the police, what they do, is injustice.”

“I come to this protest to voice my opinion,” Cheung said.

Civil Servant Rally

Thousands of people poured into centrally located Chater Garden after work for a planned civil servants’ protest, some of them chanting the popular Chinese saying “add oil,” a refrain of this movement that means to add fuel. The crowds flooded onto adjoining Chater Road as black-shirted demonstrators continued to join the gathering.

Anticipating the rally, the government on Thursday night released a statement saying its civil servants must uphold their “political neutrality.”

Protesters’ Next Plans

Sunday will see two marches. The one that’s expected to be larger will start in the expat-friendly residential neighborhood of Kennedy Town and end at Sun Yat Sen Memorial Park in Sai Ying Pun, the area near China’s liaison office where protesters and demonstrators clashed last weekend. As the protests continue fan across the city, another march will be held in the New Territories neighborhood Tseung Kwan O.

A general strike and seven accompanying rallies called for Monday across the city are gaining traction in protester forums. They call for peaceful “non co-operation actions” at three busy metro stations at 7:30 a.m., as rush hour kicks off: Lai King, Diamond Hill and Fortress Hill. The strike begins hours later, at 1 p.m., with gatherings in Tuen Mun, Tseun Wan, Tai Po, Sha Tin, Mong Kok, Wong Tai Sin and Admiralty, which houses government offices and has been ground zero for weeks of mass marches.

About 450 employees from both Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. and Hong Kong Airlines Ltd. said they will take part in Monday’s strike, Apple Daily reported Saturday, citing unidentified people.

More than 300 Cathay Pacific and Cathay Dragon employees, including pilots, flight attendants and support staff, and about 150 from Hong Kong Airlines have expressed support for the civil action, the paper said. The employees who want to take part may take leave or call in sick, Apple Daily reported.

Hong Kong crisis: Pro-democracy protesters face court after rioting charges

Dozens of Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters appeared in court Wednesday after being charged with rioting, setting the stage for further unrest in a weeks-long crisis that has rocked the global financial hub.

The announcement on Tuesday night that 44 people had been charged with rioting -- an offence that carries a jail term of up to 10 years -- immediately triggered another round of clashes between police and protesters.

Supporters continued to voice their outrage as they stood for hours on Wednesday outside court, braving heavy winds and rain, as the accused rioters appeared before a judge.

"Release the righteous... no rioters, only tyranny... reclaim Hong Kong, the revolution of our times," the supporters chanted at various times throughout the day.

The protesters were generally calm as they took turns to appear in front of the judge, who formally read the charges and granted them bail.

The range of their professions reflected the wide support across Hong Kong society for the pro-democracy movement.

They included a teacher, a nurse, an airline pilot, a barber, a chef, an electrician, a construction worker and unemployed people, according to their charge sheets.

Semi-autonomous Hong Kong has endured more than seven weeks of unrest that began with a government bid to introduce a law that would have allowed extraditions to mainland China.

The protests evolved into a movement for deeper democratic reforms and an end to eroding freedoms, in the most significant challenge to Beijing's rule since the city's handover from Britain in 1997.

In the latest confrontation, police used pepper spray and batons against hundreds of protesters who had gathered outside a police station in solidarity with those who had just been charged.

Footage broadcast live on television showed an officer aiming a shotgun at protesters who were throwing objects at him.

The previous two weekends had seen a surge in the level of violence used by both protesters and police, who repeatedly fired rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse projectile-throwing crowds.

A mob of pro-government thugs also attacked protesters, putting 45 people in hospital.

The 44 protesters were charged for their alleged role in running battles between police and protesters in a well-heeled residential neighbourhood on the main island on Sunday.

The move to charge protesters with rioting came a day after Beijing publicly threw its weight behind Hong Kong's leader Carrie Lam and the police, saying violent protesters must be swiftly punished.

"No civilised society or rule of law society will tolerate rampant violence," Yang Guang, spokesman for the cabinet-level Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, told reporters.

But while Beijing has issued increasingly shrill condemnations of the protests, it has left the city's government to deal with the situation.

Lam has shown no sign of backing down beyond agreeing to suspend the extradition bill, and has made few public appearances.

Amnesty International said the charging of the 44 protesters with rioting was aimed at intimidating others from taking part in future pro-democracy rallies.

"By using such vague charges against pro-democracy protesters, the Hong Kong authorities seem intent on sending a chilling warning to anyone considering taking part in future protests," the global human rights group's Hong Kong director, Man-kei Tam, said in a statement.

But protesters have vowed to keep their campaign going until their core demands are met.

They include Lam's resignation, an independent inquiry into police tactics, an amnesty for those arrested, a permanent withdrawal of the bill and the right to elect their leaders.

Under the terms of the 1997 handover deal from British to Chinese rule, Hong Kong enjoys rights and liberties unseen on the mainland, including an independent judiciary and freedom of speech.

But many say those rights are being curtailed, citing the disappearance into mainland custody of dissident booksellers, the disqualification of prominent politicians and the jailing of pro-democracy protest leaders.

Public anger has been compounded by rising inequality, the high costs of living and the perception that the city's distinct language and culture are being threatened by ever closer integration with the Chinese mainland.

How encrypted messages and car 'crashes' helped Hong Kong protesters

Thousands of black-clad demonstrators braved tear gas and rain for 79 days in Hong Kong’s 2014 “Umbrella Movement.” The lessons of that agitation appear to have made the city’s protesters swifter and better prepared in some of their latest attempts to weather police action.

The young citizens who crowded into the streets this week to protest a bill that would allow extradition to mainland China used the Telegram encrypted messaging app to share locations. They handed out surgical masks for protection against pepper spray and tear gas, and crucially, to hide their faces from the police. They turned cars and trucks into roadblocks in the middle of highways. And they set up supply stations throughout the demonstration, acting more quickly than they did five years ago.

“It’s a real genius of Hong Kong people,” said Kong Tsung-gan, author of Umbrella: A Political Tale from Hong Kong. “There are no pre-existing structures and before you know it, they’re there.”

At the same time, Hong Kong’s police also appeared better equipped in their efforts to disperse the crowd -- and more determined to prevent a repeat of 2014’s extended sit-in. In full anti-riot gear, they used pepper spray and fired rounds of tear gas, rubber bullets and bean bags, making it harder for demonstrators to hold their ground. The police said they’d fired about 150 rounds of tear gas in Wednesday’s melee, almost double the 87 rounds fired in the entirety of the Umbrella Movement.

Protesters have called for a new mass march on June 16. Here are some of the tactics Hong Kong’s demonstrators used during this week’s protests:

Encrypted messaging

While a pro-democracy group called the Civil Human Rights Front helped run the movement against the bill, there were no obvious leaders at Wednesday’s protests. Student activist Joshua Wong, one of the most public faces of the 2014 protests, is currently in jail in Hong Kong.

A lot of demonstrations appeared to be initiated by individuals organising friends and acquaintances via instant messaging. Before the showdown, social media sites like Facebook and Instagram showed multiple invitations to activities like “one-person picnics” or “painting on your own” near Hong Kong’s Legislative Council building. That was intentional: Any gathering of three or more without police consent could be seen as unlawful assembly, according to local law.

Meanwhile, the Telegram messaging system topped the Apple app store in Hong Kong on Wednesday. Fearing surveillance, demonstrators switched to the encrypted messaging platform to share updates and coordinate tactics. (Telegram founder Pavel Durov said his messaging service had seen a massive cyber-attack which originated in China, raising questions about whether Beijing had attempted to derail the demonstrations).

Ninja-style outfits

“You must wear a mask to protect yourself if you are going out there,” a young man told commuters outside the packed Admiralty subway station, the nearest one to the Legislative Council building. He was among a few others handing out masks to the demonstrators.

Many of the protesters, dressed in black or white, had their masks on to make themselves less recognisable for potential prosecution. Some wore goggles to protect themselves against pepper spray and tear gas.

“This time around, we have experience, so we know what we can do,” said protester Auyeung Tung, 40, a performance artist.

Police vs protester tactics

Protesters appeared to almost instinctively know what they needed as they occupied certain roads, thanks to their 2014 experience. Within hours, multiple supply stations were loaded up with surgical masks, umbrellas, bottled water and cling wrap, further preparing demonstrators for pepper spray and tear gas. There were also plastic cables, masking tape and gloves for building roadblocks. Food, from biscuits to bread, was stocked up.

Demonstrators formed human chains to distribute supplies from one part of the protest to another and to deliver parts of barricades used to ward off police. They also set up recycling and first-aid stations.

As the crowd grew, demonstrators turned several barricades into staircases for people to climb onto the highway.

After the protesters had dispersed, Hong Kong woke up Thursday to a city where most roadblocks had been cleared and traffic starting to move normally. But The Civil Human Rights Front, which organised a mass demonstration that drew hundreds of thousands of people into the streets last weekend, said it had applied for police permission to stage another such event on June 16.

Car crashes

Cars, trucks and even a bus on Wednesday suddenly stopped on major roads leading towards the protest zone, likely in response to an online campaign asking drivers to “create friendly car crashes” to block roads. At least 10 private cars stopped in the middle of Queensway, a key avenue in the heart of Hong Kong’s Central business district.