Hong Kong is a former British colony that was returned to Beijing in 1997.

The idea was ‘one country, two systems’, designed to afford the island’s residents with certain democratic rights not afforded to people in mainland China.

Over the years, China has slowly started to encroach on the freedoms that Hong Kong residents enjoy.

This year, they pushed back in a big way, sparking protests that have often turned violent.

This video from June explains the origins of the protest which has been going on for more than 10 weeks:

So far Hong Kong’s string of protests hasn’t followed any particular model. They’ve been peaceful at times, involving strikes from various professional industries and smaller group actions, but have also resulted in violent clashes with the authorities.

This past weekend saw Hong Kongers engaging in another peaceful protest.

Here’s the New York Post:

No violent clashes [were] reported Sunday as up to 1.7 million protesters turned local streets into seas of umbrellas amid torrential rains.

Riot police who have repeatedly clashed with pro-democracy demonstrators kept a low profile and did not attempt to block the paths of the umbrella-wielding protesters flowing through the Chinese city.

The protesters are making five key demands – withdraw the extradition bill, for leader Carrie Lam to step down, an inquiry into police brutality, for those who have been arrested to be released, and greater democratic freedoms.

The extradition bill, if enacted, would allow local authorities to detain and extradite people who are wanted in territories that Hong Kong does not have extradition agreements with, including mainland China and Taiwan.

Protesters are worried that the bill would place Hong Kongers and visitors under mainland Chinese jurisdiction, undermining the autonomy of the region and citizens’ rights.

Protesters say that they hope to get a positive response from the government. If not, they cannot predict how the next protest will unfold.

The earlier protests had been increasingly marked by violent clashes with police and included a mass invasion of the city’s airport that forced more than 100 flight cancellations.

On Wednesday, demonstrators clashed with cops who fired tear gas at the crowd outside a police station in the residential Sham Shui Po neighborhood, where a vigil was taking place.

I’ll leave you with more on the recent protest from Sky News:

[source:nypost]