© REUTERS / Athit PerawongmethaA protest at the British consulate General in Hong Kong.
The hundreds of protesters who gathered in front of the British Consulate-General claim the Chinese government is encroaching on their freedoms established under the 'one country, two systems' formula at the end of British colonial rule in 1984. Calling on the former sovereign to do something about it, they waved British flags as well as those of colonial Hong Kong, and sang patriotic British songs, including 'God Save the Queen' and 'Land of Hope and Glory'.
Britain had control over Hong Kong for decades after taking it from imperial China - a result of the Opium Wars, which reduced what was an economic powerhouse to destitution.
Since it's highly unlikely that modern Britain would launch a colonial war the way it did so often in the 19th century, the protesters have other ideas on how Her Majesty can support them. For example, granting full British citizenship to holders of the British National (Overseas) passport - a special type of document that was granted to hundreds of thousands of Hong Kong residents. It allows visa-free travel to the UK, but only for six months, and does not include work privileges.
Some protesters were eager to pledge allegiance to Britain, chanting: "We are British and we will never surrender" and "Rule, Britannia!"
It's not the first time the Hong Kong protesters have urged a foreign power to intervene on their behalf. Demonstrators have also been seen waving American flags, singing the US national anthem, and holding up meme-like photos of a rifle-toting Donald Trump standing on top of a 'Trump' tank, urging him to "liberate Hong Kong."
The protests started in March over a now-scrapped extradition bill - which activists claimed was meant to undermine the city's judiciary and to persecute dissidents - and have continued with ever-increasing demands from the protest leaders. Some demonstrations turned violent, leading to clashes with police, but Beijing has so far been reluctant to intervene with force.
Beijing accuses the US and UK of spurring the protests, and the demonstrators' ostentatious gestures of loyalty to those very nations - like Sunday's anthem-singing - hardly allay those perceptions.
Reader Comments
No response, their voice is falling on deaf ears.despite what is propagated in the MSM
A bunch of privileged kids, that have been given more money than sense, think they can change the world.
But the ironic situation is, ..they know nothing of the world and the people they live with within there own country.
I would say this is a flop, and for those thinking that was the start of a cultural change.... think again....
Oh well.
The riot leaders today - Allan Leong Ka Kit, Claudia Mo, Lee Cheuk Yan and other ambitious legislators - know that their army of young people are ignorant of that. Those youths might imagine they are fighting for independence, democracy or some hopeful-sounding aim but its nothing like that. The battle the children fight is to unseat the Hong Kong Government and replace it with Leong and Mo and their group so they can take control of the national savings in the Fed and do the bidding of their western lords to arrest, hopefully prevent, China's replacement of the Anglosphere ruling the world.
Btw, Beijing is not reluctant to intervene. It has told the Hong Kong government it will help if asked. You would not believe the size of the army of yellow-vested Press who are at every riot, sometimes taking part, but have been unable to see anything except police brutality. Their incompetence must be intentional. The press is a trade that needs serious regulation.