Hong Kong police arrested more than 500 people who refused to leave a street in the city’s financial district on Wednesday, a day after tens of thousands of people joined a massive march to push for democracy, free from China’s interference.
The march is an annual affair to mark the anniversary of the day China took over Hong Kong from Britain on June 1, 1997 with the promise to give the city a high degree of autonomy for 50 years.
But there is growing unease among its residents especially the youth that the Western-style civil liberties they’ve know all their lives are being eroded as the freewheeling capitalist enclave comes under Beijing’s hard-line communist rule.
The fears are only going to be heightened following the pre-dawn crackdown by the Hong Kong police, who normally do not have an antagonistic relationship with the people, unlike the security forces in mainland China.
Police said 511 people were arrested for unlawful assembly in the Central business district and preventing police from carrying out their duties. After warnings failed to dislodge the protesters, the police moved in and forcibly removed them.