{"id":223067,"date":"2019-07-16T01:38:36","date_gmt":"2019-07-16T05:38:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=223067"},"modified":"2019-07-16T01:38:36","modified_gmt":"2019-07-16T05:38:36","slug":"hong-kong-leader-thanks-police-after-clashes-with-rioters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2019\/07\/16\/hong-kong-leader-thanks-police-after-clashes-with-rioters\/","title":{"rendered":"Hong Kong leader thanks police after clashes with ‘rioters’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Lam paid a hospital visit to police officers who were injured and expressed gratitude to them for safeguarding law and order in Hong Kong. (File Photo<\/a>: \u6797\u912d\u6708\u5a25 Carrie Lam\/Facebook)<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam thanked police on Monday after violent scuffles erupted between law enforcement officers and protesters demanding her resignation.<\/p>\n

A demonstration Sunday in Hong Kong’s Sha Tin district was peaceful for most of the day, but fights broke out when police started clearing streets after nightfall. Some protesters retreated into a shopping complex where they and police hit each other with clubs and umbrellas.<\/p>\n

Lam paid a hospital visit to police officers who were injured and expressed gratitude to them for safeguarding law and order in Hong Kong. \u201cThey are committed, professional and have exercised restraint when they were being attacked by those whom I describe as ‘rioters,\u201d’ she told reporters.<\/p>\n

Large-scale protests began in Hong Kong last month in opposition to proposed extradition legislation that would allow people in Hong Kong to be sent for trials in mainland China, where critics say their legal rights would not be guaranteed. In response to a series of massive demonstrations calling for the bills’ withdrawal, Lam said the legislation was \u201cdead.\u201d But thousands have continued to take to the streets to call for greater government accountability and democratic reforms.<\/p>\n

While largely peaceful, the protests have at times devolved into clashes between protesters and police, who have used pepper spray, bean bag rounds, rubber bullets and tear gas to quell demonstrators. The protesters are in turn calling for police to be held responsible for their tactics. Activists have also accused Lam of ignoring public sentiment and called on her to resign.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough I am currently encountering a huge difficulty, I have publicly stressed many times that I will continue to still bear my responsibility and have the passion for continuing my job until the end of my term,\u201d Lam said Monday.<\/p>\n

Both pro-democracy legislators and ones who support China’s Communist Party-led central government held news conferences on Monday to address the clashes.<\/p>\n

\u201cBoth sides have to come out and establish communication channels,\u201d said pro-Beijing lawmaker Starry Lee.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think (Lam) and also the bureau responsible should come out and respond to this issue,\u201d Lee said. \u201cOtherwise Hong Kong will be the loser and no Hong Kong person wants to see this happen again and again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pro-democracy legislator Claudia Mo described the current tumult as \u201cthe biggest political and governance crisis Hong Kong has ever faced.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe whole of Hong Kong found it difficult to cope,\u201d Mo said. \u201cWe urge once again Carrie Lam to come out and face the people.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam thanked police on Monday after violent scuffles erupted between law enforcement officers and protesters demanding …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":223079,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-223067","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-w","mauthors-alice-fung","mauthors-nadia-lam","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223067","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=223067"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223067\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":223081,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223067\/revisions\/223081"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/223079"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=223067"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=223067"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=223067"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}