6000 Police Lock Down Hong Kong for the National Holiday
Roadblocks and frequent ID checks proved frustrating to people who said they simply wanted to use Thursday’s public holiday, which coincided with the Mid-Autumn Festival, to go shopping or join family for a meal.
A woman in her 60s said she and her daughter, with a friend in tow, were out browsing stores when they became caught in a cordoned-off area on Paterson Street. The mother said officers allowed her to leave but detained her 38-year-old daughter and the friend, who were put on a police bus.
“We were supposed to have steak for dinner tonight as it is the Mid-Autumn Festival,” she said. “I don’t know where to find my daughter now.”
“It’s like there are no human rights,” said Lau Fung, a 67-year-old security guard who was stopped on Lockhart Road in Causeway Bay to have his backpack searched. He said police told him he looked suspicious. “There’s no human dignity,” Fung said.
Many student journalists and freelancers were left unable to report on events without risking a fine or arrest. At least two journalists were ticketed HK$2,000 (US$258) for breaching the ban on public gatherings of four or more, while another was taken away.
By evening, officers were stationed at the foot and top of Lion Rock that towers over Kowloon, following online calls to form human chains. They stopped some walking up the hill for ID checks. Video posted online showed dozens of tiny lights from mobile phones dotting the dark landscape.
The founder of Civil Human Rights Observer, Icarus Wong Ho-yin, said the national security law had cast a chill over Hong Kong.
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In addition to launch illegal street rallies in multiple districts, some netizens also called on the public to hike the Lion Rock to participate in the “Light with You” activity to form a human chain this evening.
Hikers used lighting devices mobile phones and flashlights to form a “light chain” to express political demands. Starting in the afternoon, there have been citizens who responded and hiked up the mountain one after another, and the police were also present by intercepting citizens at various entrances and exits of Lion Rock Park.
It is reported that police officers were stationed at the top of the mountain to observe the situation.