Beijing supporters in Hong Kong vow to protect national flag after anti-government protesters throw one into harbour twice in three days
- Tuen Mun district councillor co-organised one set of volunteer guards and says there are at least three groups
- Desecrating national flag illegal and punishable by a fine of US$6,383 and three years in jail
Pro-Beijing groups have vowed to protect the Chinese national flag in Hong Kong as Beijing mobilises its supporters in the city to counter anti-government protests.
Tuen Mun district councillor Leo Chan Manwell, who is a member of the Beijing-loyalist Federation of Trade Unions, has co-organised one set of volunteers and the 40-year-old said there were at least three groups of voluntary guards.
This came after the Chinese flag outside the Harbour City shopping centre in Tsim Sha Tsui was removed from a flagpole and thrown into the sea on Saturday, after tens of thousands of people defied a police ban and marched to the area following a rally in Tai Kok Tsui.
Chan said the first group of guards brought a Chinese flag with them, and raised it on Saturday night.
After the flag was removed at around 7pm on Monday and again thrown into the harbour, another group went there a few hours later with their own Chinese flag and raised it.
Chan’s group then gathered under the flagpole at about 7am on Tuesday, and sang the national anthem. He said about 70 people attended the gathering.
“We are not highly organised, we are just a group of people who wanted to go,” he said.
“We understand that some people are unhappy with how the city’s government pushed forward the extradition bill, but that has nothing to do with the national emblem or the national flag.”
Chan said while his group was not involved in the voluntary flag-raising of the past few days, they would hold one of their own if protesters removed the Chinese flag in Tsim Sha Tsui, or in other locations, in the future.
“Guarding and respecting the national flag is the responsibility of every Chinese citizen,” he said.
But Chan also said the Harbour City shopping centre, or the Home Affairs Department, should do more to stop people from removing flags.
Wharf Properties confirmed it was responsible for the “management” of the flagpole at its Harbour City development, and would devote resources to protecting it, but declined to specify what those resources would be.
Anti-government protests first broke out in Hong Kong in June over a controversial extradition bill.
After the city’s embattled leader Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor announced on July 9 the bill was “dead”, the protests evolved to express young demonstrators’ frustration over Beijing’s policy for their city.
On July 21, protesters defaced the national emblem outside Beijing’s liaison office in the city. The act was strongly criticised by Lam, the liaison office and Beijing’s Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office (HKMAO).
Celebrities, businesses and school take patriotic stand after flag protest
Lam and Beijing’s two offices also condemned protesters who threw the flag into the harbour.
In a press conference on Tuesday, HKMAO spokeswoman Xu Luying criticised protesters for throwing the flag into the harbour, and noted pro-Beijing groups in Hong Kong had raised it again.
“The people who ‘love the country and love Hong Kong’ are not alone. They are backed by 1.4 billion Chinese people,” she said.
Former chief executive Leung Chun-ying, a vice-chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), also said on Facebook he would offer HK$1 million (US$127,600) to anyone who could provide information about the act, so the person responsible could be brought to justice.
Under Hong Kong law, a person who publicly and wilfully desecrates the national flag can be fined up to HK$50,000 or jailed for three years.
Lam: protesters dragging Hong Kong down ‘path of no return’
In 2016, pro-establishment lawmakers placed miniature Chinese and Hong Kong flags on their desks in a Legislative Council meeting, and localist lawmaker Cheng Chung-tai upended the flags during a break.
Cheng was found guilty of desecrating the flags and was fined HK$5,000 in 2017.
Additional reporting by Lam Ka-sing
