Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam slams US ‘double standards’ with protests
Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam accused foreign governments on Tuesday of “double standards” in their reaction to China’s plans to implement controversial national security laws in the city, referring to the response to anti-police brutality protests in the United States.
”We have recently seen these kinds of double standards most clearly with the riots in the United States,” Lam said. “We can see how local authorities have reacted. But then last year when we had similar riots in Hong Kong, what was their position?”
The US, Britain and other Western countries heavily criticized police crackdowns on anti-government protests that gripped Hong Kong last year. The US has also slammed Beijing and pledged to revoke special trade privileges for Hong Kong, due to the introduction of a national security law, which critics say erodes the city’s autonomy. Hong Kong and Beijing authorities have insisted that rights and freedoms will be preserved.
Tensions between Washington and Beijing come amid ongoing trade negotiations.
Read more: US attack on press freedom gains supporters
”They take their own country’s national security very seriously, but for the security of our country, especially the situation in Hong Kong, they are looking at it through tinted glasses,” she told a weekly news conference.
After facing large-scale and often-violent pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong last year, Beijing introduced a law to punish “secession, subversion, terrorism and foreign interference.”
US President Donald Trump, arguing that Hong Kong was no longer sufficiently autonomous from Beijing as promised at the time of the 1997 handover of the territory by Britain, said Hong Kong will no longer be treated differently from China under US law.
The security law could also allow Chinese intelligence agencies to expand their presence in the global financial hub.
Calling for police accountability
In the US, police fired tear gas and rubber bullets near the White House on Monday to disperse peaceful demonstrators protesting the killing of George Floyd, an unarmed black man, while in custody of Minneapolis police. Meanwhile, dozens of US cities remained under curfew, not seen since the riots after the 1968 assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
Protesters in Hong Kong have been demonstrating for universal suffrage and an independent inquiry into how police handled the protests, after police were accused of disproportionate use of force. Hong Kong, where protesters reject the description of the demonstrations as riots, has not enforced any curfews.
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In pictures: US protests over George Floyd, police killings rage in dozens of cities
‘I can’t breathe’
Tense protests over decades of police brutality against black people have quickly spread from Minneapolis to cities across the US. The protests began in the Midwestern city earlier this week, after a police officer handcuffed and pressed a knee on the neck of George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, until he stopped breathing and died.
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In pictures: US protests over George Floyd, police killings rage in dozens of cities
A ‘gentle giant’
Floyd grew up in Houston, Texas, and moved to Minneapolis in 2014 for work. Before his death, he was looking for work after having been laid off from his job as a security guard at a Latin bistro due to Minnesota’s stay-at-home coronavirus restrictions. Standing 6 feet, 6 inches (1.98 meters) tall, his friends described him as a “gentle giant.”
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In pictures: US protests over George Floyd, police killings rage in dozens of cities
From peaceful to violent
Protests were mostly peaceful on Saturday, though some became violent as the night wore on. In Washington, D.C., the National Guard was deployed outside the White House. At least one person died in shootings in downtown Indianapolis; police said no officers were involved. Officers were injured in Philadelphia, while in New York two NYPD vehicles lurched into a crowd, knocking people to the ground.
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In pictures: US protests over George Floyd, police killings rage in dozens of cities
Shops destroyed, looted
In Los Angeles, protesters faced off with officers with shouts of “Black Lives Matter!” as police confronted crowds with batons and rubber bullets. In some cities including LA, Atlanta, New York, Chicago and Minneapolis, protests have turned into riots, with people looting and destroying local shops and businesses.
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In pictures: US protests over George Floyd, police killings rage in dozens of cities
‘When the looting starts…’
President Donald Trump has threatened to send in the military to quell the protests, saying his “administration will stop mob violence and will stop it cold.” Trump’s response has inflamed tensions across the country. He blamed the rioting on alleged far-left groups, but Minnesota Governor Tim Walz told reporters he had heard multiple unconfirmed reports of white supremacists stoking the violence.
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In pictures: US protests over George Floyd, police killings rage in dozens of cities
Media in the crosshairs
Many journalists covering the protests have found themselves targeted by law enforcement. On Friday, CNN correspondent Omar Jimenez and his crew were arrested while covering the story in Minneapolis, and several reporters have been hit with projectiles or detained while on air. DW’s Stefan Simons was fired at by police twice as he reported on the unrest over the weekend.
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In pictures: US protests over George Floyd, police killings rage in dozens of cities
Going global
North of the US border, in Canada, thousands of protesters took to the streets in Vancouver and Toronto. In Berlin, American expats and other demonstrators gathered outside the US Embassy. In London, protesters kneeled in Trafalgar Square before marching past the Houses of Parliament and stopping at the British capital’s US Embassy.
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In pictures: US protests over George Floyd, police killings rage in dozens of cities
At Trump’s front door
Protests raged in the US capital, Washington, after the district began its 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew on Sunday. More than 1,000 demonstrators gathered in Lafayette Park, across from the White House, with some lighting fires outside the president’s residence. The New York Times reported that Secret Service had brought Trump into a bunker as a safety precaution.
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In pictures: US protests over George Floyd, police killings rage in dozens of cities
Curfews in major US cities
Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami, Detroit, Washington D.C. and other US cities extended curfews as protests entered a sixth night. The state of Arizona in the west instituted a statewide, weeklong curfew after demonstrators clashed with police. Around 5,000 troops from the National Guard also have been deployed in 15 US states.
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In pictures: US protests over George Floyd, police killings rage in dozens of cities
Trump threatens to bring in US military
In the face of renewed protests on Sunday, Trump threatened to deploy the military if states failed to “defend their residents.” As he made his remarks, security authorities used tear gas and rubber bullets to force protesters from nearby Lafayette Park. Trump then walked from his residence to a church in the park, where he held a bible aloft during a photo opportunity.
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In pictures: US protests over George Floyd, police killings rage in dozens of cities
Peaceful demonstrations
Many protests in the US have remained peaceful, with groups of demonstrators standing together against police brutality. In Manhattan’s Times Square, protesters lay on the ground with their hands behind their back, mimicking the position Floyd was in when he was killed. Though some protesters have resorted to violence, several US mayors and governors have praised protests.
lc/stb (AP, Reuters)
Article source: https://www.dw.com/en/hong-kong-leader-carrie-lam-slams-us-double-standards-with-protests/a-53655150?maca=en-rss-en-all-1573-rdf