Defend your home against radical protesters, Beijing urges Hongkongers amid ongoing extradition bill unrest
- China’s top agency overseeing city affairs warns against angry youth going too far, but also appeals for peace
- Says local officials and police capable of restoring order
China’s top government agency overseeing Hong Kong affairs has made clear it will be up to the city itself to restore law and order upended by two months of anti-government protests, and appealed to citizens to stand up against radical protesters to defend their home or face the consequences of endless violence and chaos.
In another rare media briefing in Beijing on Tuesday, following a day of unprecedented mayhem across the city unleashed by radical protesters attacking police stations and blocking roads, the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office (HKMAO) appealed to the city’s angry youth in particular for peace, but also warned them against going too far.
“We would like to make it clear to the very small group of unscrupulous and violent criminals and the dirty forces behind them: those who play with fire will perish by it. And at the end of the day, they will eventually be punished,” HKMAO spokesman Yang Guang said.
He warned that the central government would not tolerate any attempt to separate the city from China, as Hong Kong’s future was in the hands of 1.4 billion Chinese people, including 7 million Hongkongers.
Yang also made it clear the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) would not look on if Hong Kong’s protest crisis escalated beyond the local government’s control, even though Beijing was firmly behind Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor’s embattled administration and the city’s police, and was confident they were fully capable of restoring public order.
