Israel kills a senior leader of Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza airstrike - Washington Post

Mohammed Salem Reuters Smoke rises following an explosion in Gaza early Tuesday. Israeli forces said they carried out an airstrike that killed a senior Palestinian militant.

JERUSALEM — Israeli security forces killed a senior leader of the militant Palestinian Islamic Jihad in a targeted airstrike in the Gaza Strip early Tuesday, sparking a rain of retaliatory rocket fire from the enclave and raising fears of escalating reprisals.

Warning sirens sounded in multiple population centers, including Tel Aviv, sending thousands to shelters. Schools, work places and public transport were canceled in large areas of south and central Israel. More than 50 rockets were launched and at least one residence and an office were hit, the army said, adding that 20 were intercepted. An 8-year-old girl was reportedly in stable condition after losing consciousness during the barrage.

In Syria, state media reported an attack about the same time struck the house of a second Palestinian Jihad leader living in Damascus. The reports said the leader, Akram al-Ajouri, was not injured but his son and one other were killed and 10 other wounded. Israel declined to comment on the reports.

In Gaza, Israeli Defense Forces said they targeted Baha Abu Al Ata, the commander responsible for several previous rocket launches, because “his next attack was imminent.”

Photographs posted on social media showed a heavily damage house in the east Gaza neighborhood of Shejaiya. The Gaza Health Ministry said a man and woman were killed in the attack and two people injured.

In a statement, Palestinian Islamic Jihad confirmed that Abu Al Ata and his wife were killed. “Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Jihad movement in Palestine, is mourning its martyr and one of the most prominent members of its military council and the commander of the northern region,” it said, describing the attack as a “cowardly assassination.”

“We affirm that the response to this crime will have no limits and will be the size of the crime committed by the criminal enemy and that the occupation will bear the consequences of this aggression,” the statement said.

[Netanyahu’s party could break Israel’s political deadlock by dumping him. Why won’t it?]

The army said it had carried out the joint strike with Shin Bet security service in response to attacks directed by Al Ata, including rocket launches and sniper fire. They attributed recent rocket attacks on a summer music festival and on the city of Sderot to the faction he led.

“Abu Al Ata was responsible for most of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s activity in the Gaza Strip and was a ticking bomb,” the army’s statement said, calling him an “imminent threat” plotting additional violence.

Mohammed Salem

Reuters

A Palestinian militant walks past the home of Islamic Jihad field commander Baha Abu Al Ata after it was hit by an Israeli strike that killed him in Gaza City early Tuesday.

The overnight action was approved by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the statement said. Benny Gantz, the former army chief who is now trying to form a coalition government, supported the action.

“The fight against terrorism is ongoing and requires moments of difficult decision-making. The political echelon and the IDF made the right decision tonight for the security of Israeli citizens and residents of the south. Blue and white will back up any proper activity for the security of Israel and put the residents’ security above politics,” he said.

Hamas, the militant Islamist group that governs the territory, restricted offshore fishing activities to six miles.

Israeli army spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus said Israel was getting preparing for days of potential hostilities.

[A summer day at the beach? For many Gazans, the conflict has put an end to that, too.]

Conricus said that based on intelligence information, at about 4 a.m., Israel conducted a surgical strike, killing the commander that Israel blames for much of the rising tensions in recent months.

“He was leader of the northern command for the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, but we know that his activities were not only restricted to the northern Gaza strip,” said Conricus.

“The Israeli operation was aimed to mitigate the threat and done with the approval of the cabinet and the Minister of Defense,” said Conricus. “We were looking for the most opportune moment over the past week but Baha Abu Al Ata had a habit of surrounding himself with human shields, we were waiting for a time to minimize the human casualties.”

Conricus said that missiles from fighter jets struck only the floor where Baha Abu Al Ata was located and only a handful of rooms. He said the Israelis were aware of additional casualties and were investigating.

“We want to emphasize that this was a preemptive strike to remove an imminent threat,” said Conricus. “We tried to communicate to him and to his senior commanders that we were aware of his plans but these warnings were not heeded.”

Mohammed Salem

Reuters

A rocket is fired from Gaza toward Israel on Tuesday.

The strike did not mark a return to the strategy of targeted killings, Conricus said, but rather a tailored response to remove a specific threat. The use of assassinations was discussed recently in Israel’s security cabinet and it has been a subject of disagreement between the political echelons and security establishment.

Naftali Bennett, who was appointed by Netanyahu on Sunday to take over as Defense Minister on Tuesday, has been outspoken about supporting such actions when dealing with flare ups from the Gaza strip. He participated in an emergency meeting of the cabinet convened Tuesday.

“We have bolstered our defenses in the south if there is any attempt by PIJ to launch an attack,” said Conricus.

There were further reports of explosions in Gaza later in the morning as the funeral of Al Ata progressed through the streets. It could not be determined if they were the result of Israeli actions in response to the rocket activity or by failed rockets themselves. The Health Ministry reported two further deaths and seven injuries.

In May, Israeli forces carried out a similar strike on Hamad Hudri, who they said was a high-ranking official in Hamas’ Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades and who was responsible for transferring money from Iran to the various terrorist groups in the Gaza Strip.

Hazem Balousha in Gaza and Sarah Dadouch in Beirut contributed to this story.

Read more

A summer day at the beach? For many Gazans, the conflict has put an end to that, too.

Netanyahu’s party could break Israel’s political deadlock by dumping him. Why won’t it?

Netanyahu can’t form a government. Here’s what’s next for Israeli politics.

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2019-11-12 07:48:00Z
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Schools shut, riot police out as Hong Kong sees yet another day of unrest - CNN

Authorities are calling for calm after a day of clashes around the city on Monday that saw protesters hurl petrol bombs, set fires, build barricades and disrupt transport. More than 260 people were arrested as the protests went late into the night, police said in a statement.

Some universities and schools have canceled classes Tuesday as protesters and riot police gather in locations around the Asian financial hub. By 8 a.m., police had already fired tear gas on the city's streets.

In a press conference Tuesday morning, Hong Kong's leader Carrie Lam called out "aggressive rioters" who she said were trying to disrupt the city's transport networks. "They want to paralyze Hong Kong, which is a selfish act," she said.

Although some schools have shut for the day, Lam said the government is not officially suspending classes as it would give protesters what they wanted -- to bring the city to a standstill.

Most subway lines are operating, however some commuters were forced to walk along the train tracks in Sha Tin district after an unidentified object was found on the track, an MTR representative said.

At the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) -- a short distance from Sha Tin -- CNN saw black-clad protesters setting up barricades on Tuesday morning. A collection of bows and arrows had also been piled nearby.

At midday Tuesday, a few thousand people occupied a major intersection in Central, the city's business district. Some appeared to be office workers on their lunch break, while others wore black and shielded behind umbrellas.

A day of chaos

On Monday morning local time, a police officer shot a 21-year-old protester at close range in the torso in Sai Wan Ho, on eastern Hong Kong Island. Hong Kong Chief Superintendent of Police Tse Chun-Chung said the officer fired because he was afraid the protester would attempt to snatch the gun from his hand.

On Monday afternoon, police said there was no immediate threat to the protester's life, but on Tuesday, hospital authorities said he remained in a critical condition. Police first used lethal force in October by firing a live shot and injuring an 18-year-old man.

In a separate incident on Monday afternoon, a 57-year-old man was doused with a flammable liquid and set alight after an argument with protesters on a footbridge in Ma On Shan, police said in a statement.

The man remains in a critical condition, according to Hong Kong's Hospital Authority. Police are treating the case as attempted murder.

A police officer was suspended from front line service Monday after driving a motorbike through a crowd of protesters in Kwai Fung, in the New Territories, Tse said.

While police officers were under great pressure, they were not out of control, he said.

"We appeal to everyone to please stay calm and rational," Tse added. "Continuing this rampage is a lose-lose situation for Hong Kong -- everyone is a loser."

Human rights group Amnesty International called Monday a "shocking low for the Hong Kong police," describing the shooting of the protester as a "reckless use of force."

Ongoing protests

Hong Kong's protests began in June over a now-withdrawn extradition bill.

Since then, demonstrations have expanded to include five major demands, including an independent inquiry into alleged police brutality and wider democratic reforms.

In response to the demands, the city government appointed a panel of overseas experts to assist Hong Kong's longstanding Independent Police Complaints Council (IPCC), which is conducting a fact-finding study into alleged police misconduct during the protests.

But on Saturday, one of the experts tweeted a copy of the panel's progress report, criticizing the IPCC's investigative capabilities, and saying it needed to "substantially enhance its capacity" to assess evidence from witnesses and assemble a coherent account of the facts.

The IPCC said it was "disappointed" that it was not consulted before one of the overseas experts made the progress report public. On Sunday, the Hong Kong government said the IPCC's study would be "by no means a final report."

The nonstop protests have also sent retail and tourism numbers plunging, and the semi-autonomous city fell into recession in October. Travel is dropping as demonstrations escalate in violence, and there is increasing public hostility toward the city government and police force.

Escalating violence

Monday's violence comes just days after a university student died from a head injury suffered in a parking garage close to the scene of protests.

Chow Tsz-lok, a computer sciences student at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), died on Friday morning after being on life support.

Although there is no indication that Chow was involved in the nearby protest the night of his injury, his death prompted an outpouring of anger and grief from anti-government protesters, who claim that police actions on the night of the accident resulted in paramedics being temporarily unable to access him, a charge the force denies.

CNN's Jadyn Shum and Joshua Berlinger contributed to this report.

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2019-11-12 03:17:00Z
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Morales' exit in Bolivia leaves violence and political vacuum - Reuters

LA PAZ (Reuters) - Buildings were set alight in Bolivia’s capital La Paz overnight in apparent retaliatory attacks after Evo Morales, president since 2006, resigned under pressure from anger over his disputed re-election last month.

A report from the Organization of American States (OAS) released on Sunday had said the election should to be annulled and rerun because “clear manipulations” of the voting system called into question Morales’ win.

Soon after, Bolivia’s first indigenous leader said he was stepping down to ease the violence that has raged since the election on Oct. 20 - but repeated his argument that he had been the victim of a coup.

On Monday, the leftist stuck to his defiant tone, in comments that appeared unlikely to calm violence between his supporters and opposition activists.

“The world and our Bolivian patriots repudiate the coup,” Morales tweeted. “They moved me to tears. They never abandoned me; I will never abandon them.”

While some Latin American countries had backed his allegations of a coup, others had called for a new election.

Morales had triggered protests by running for a fourth term in defiance of term limits, before claiming victory in an election marred by allegations of fraud.

Morales’ vice president and many of his political allies in government and the legislature stepped down with him.

Demonstrators stand next to a barricade during a protest against Bolivia's President Evo Morales in La Paz, Bolivia, November 10, 2019. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins

LOOTING AND FIRES

In the capital and the eastern city of Santa Cruz, crowds cheered his resignation.

But as night fell, gangs roamed the streets, looting businesses and setting fire to properties. Prominent opposition figure and academic Waldo Albarracin tweeted that his house had been set on fire by Morales supporters.

Another widely-shared video appeared to show people inside Morales’ own property with graffiti daubed on the walls after he flew to another part of the country.

It was not initially clear who would take the helm of the country pending a new election, though opposition senator Jeanine Añez said she was prepared to accept the responsibility.

Slideshow (5 Images)

“If I have the support of those who carried out this movement for freedom and democracy, I will take on the challenge, only to do what’s necessary to call transparent elections,” Añez told the television channel Red Uno on Monday.

“It’s not that I want to assume this by force, it is a constitutional succession for now that I have to assume.”

In Bolivian law, in the absence of the president and vice president, the head of the Senate would normally take over provisionally. However, Senate President Adriana Salvatierra also stepped down on Sunday.

Legislators are expected to meet on Monday to agree on an interim commission or legislator who would take temporary administrative control of Bolivia, according to a constitutional lawyer who spoke to Reuters.

Reporting by Daniel Ramos, Gram Slattery, Monica Machicao; Writing by Adam Jourdan and Hugh Bronstein; Editing by Kevin Liffey

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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2019-11-11 11:25:00Z
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Hong Kong protester shot at close range, counterprotester set on fire in latest escalation of violence - Fox News

A pro-democracy protester was shot at close range and a counterprotester was set on fire as violence continued to engulf Hong Kong on Monday morning, with the disturbing images of street fights and escalating attacks from both sides drowning out an appeal by the city's embattled leader for an end to demonstrations.

Carrie Lam, the pro-China chief executive of Hong Kong, laid the blame for the ongoing demonstrations deteriorating into chaos squarely at the feet of the pro-democracy protesters, who she labeled "rioters." But videos emerging from the autonomous Chinese territory showed the mayhem being instigated from all angles.

Video of one horrific incident showed a man, who is described as being opposed to the protesters, having a substance thrown on him which then ignites, consuming the man's upper body in flames.

In another alarming interaction, a police officer is seen shooing away a group of protesters at a street intersection, then drawing his gun on one masked demonstrator who approaches him. As the two struggle, the officer points his gun at a second protester who walks toward him and shoots him at close range in the stomach area.

The protester falls to the ground as the police officer appears to fire again as a third protester enters the melee. Authorities said only one protester was shot and was in critical condition at a nearby hospital.

HONG KONG POLICE SHOOT PROTESTER IN VIDEO POSTED TO FACEBOOK

WARNING: GRAPHIC VIDEO

HONG KONG STUDENT WHO FELL FROM PARKING DECK DURING PROTESTS DIES, SPARKING MORE DEMONSTRATIONS

Lam on Monday said "rioters" were to blame for destroying Hong Kong and cautioned that violence won't get demonstrators what they want.

“If there’s still any wishful thinking that by escalating violence, the Hong Kong [special administrative region of China] government will yield to pressure, to satisfy the so-called political demands, I’m making this statement clear and loud here: that will not happen,” she said, according to Reuters.

The violence, fueled by demands for democratic reforms, is likely to further inflame passions in Hong Kong after a student who fell during an earlier protest succumbed to his injuries and died on Friday. The unrest also intensified after police over the weekend arrested six pro-democracy lawmakers, who have all been freed on bail, on charges of obstructing the local assembly during a raucous May 11 meeting over the extradition bill.

Elsewhere in the city on Monday, police fired tear gas and deployed a water cannon, and charged onto the campus of Chinese University, where students were protesting. Video posted online also showed a policeman on a motorcycle riding through a group of protesters in an apparent attempt to disperse them.

The protests, which began in June, were sparked over a proposed extradition law and have expanded to include demands for greater democracy and police accountability. Activists say Hong Kong's autonomy and Western-style civil liberties, promised when the former British colony was returned to China in 1997, are crumbling.

On Sunday, police fired tear gas and protesters vandalized stores at shopping malls in anti-government demonstrations across Hong Kong. They targeted businesses whose owners are seen as pro-Beijing and also damaged the Sha Tin train station.

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Police said they arrested at least 88 people on various charges, including unlawful assembly, possession of an offensive weapon, criminal damage and wearing masks at an unlawful assembly.

The Associated Press contributed to this report

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2019-11-11 10:49:49Z
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Day of rage plunges Hong Kong into turmoil after police shoot protester - The Washington Post

Kin Cheung AP Riot police fire tear gas in central Hong Kong on Monday.

HONG KONG — The shooting of a pro-democracy protester by Hong Kong police unleashed a chain of chaotic events on Monday, as thousands of demonstrators clashed with riot police in the city’s financial district and violent confrontations erupted at university campuses, plunging the Asian financial hub further into turmoil.

Tensions soared across the city. In the afternoon, police fired tear gas as a melee of protesters and office workers packed streets and flyovers in the downtown area. “Disband the police!” they shouted. Protesters threw debris into the road, brought traffic to a halt, and set fires. Later, a man was doused with liquid and set alight.

There had been calls for a general strike on Monday, the latest step in months of anti-government unrest that has convulsed the former British colony and posed a direct challenge to Chinese rule. But the immediate spark for the escalation came when a police officer fired live rounds in the Sai Wan Ho neighborhood early in the day, critically injuring a 21-year-old protester who appeared to be unarmed. Police confirmed that one man had been shot by an officer.

“It’s a police state in Hong Kong,” said Jerry, 26, a finance worker who joined the protests and gave only one name out of fear of retribution. “Police are murderers.”

[Hong Kong police shoot at pro-democracy protesters]

Throughout more than five months of unrest, Beijing has exhorted Hong Kong’s leaders to clamp down harder on the dissenters. Hong Kong authorities have obliged with thousands of arrests, draconian new laws, a barrage of tear gas, and the detention of pro-democracy lawmakers. A protester died Friday after falling in a parking garage several days earlier as police dispersed demonstrators nearby.

Yet far from blunting the democracy movement, the intensifying crackdown has prompted protesters to adopt more aggressive tactics. With the deeply divided city descending into disorder, there has been no sign that Beijing might change tack or allow the Hong Kong government to offer a political compromise.

Nicole Tung

Bloomberg

People react to tear gas fired by police in Hong Kong’s downtown area on Monday, after thousands took to the streets to protest the police shooting of a demonstrator.

“Senior officials have issued very draconian comments regarding the promulgation of a national security law and stepping up overall control,” said Willy Lam Wo-Lap, a professor of Chinese politics at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. “This, together with the death of the student protester last week, is responsible for today’s outbreak of disorder.”

Student protesters “see no future ahead of them” because of the government’s crackdown and refusal to compromise, Lam added. “It seems like Beijing wants to use [the escalating protests] as an excuse to impose tougher measures,” he said.

In Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang declined to comment on the shooting of the protester, referring reporters to other government departments. The State Council did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

[Buffeted by trade war and Hong Kong protests, China’s Xi Jinping seeks to project stability]

At an evening news conference, Hong Kong chief executive Carrie Lam said protesters were “destroying society” and labeled them “the people’s enemy,” saying their actions had far exceeded demands for democracy. The government would not bow to such pressure, she said. Some 60 people had been injured in Monday’s clashes, she added.

Protests began in June when the Hong Kong leader tried to push through a now-shelved proposal to allow criminal suspects to face trial in mainland China. But the movement has widened into an uprising against Beijing’s encroachment on Hong Kong’s autonomy, encompassing demands for full democracy and police accountability.

The unrest has pushed the city into recession. On Monday, numerous shops were closed, train lines were shut and many workers unable to reach their offices. Universities canceled classes. Police said a petrol bomb was thrown into a subway car. A police officer who rode a motorcycle into a crowd of demonstrators was placed on leave pending an investigation.

In central Hong Kong, as police retreated in vans at one point in the afternoon, crowds on the footbridges above chanted “fight for freedom, stand with Hong Kong!” Other onlookers shouted and threw debris at police vans.

Protesters occupied a main thoroughfare, erecting barricades and setting fires near high-end hotels. As protesters blocked a road tunnel, they clashed with onlookers and taxi drivers. Some travelers abandoned their cars and walked with their suitcases.

Kin Cheung

AP

Protesters burn debris to block a road on Monday. Hong Kong’s political crisis has pushed the city into turmoil.

Scuffles broke out between protesters and Chinese government supporters. Footage shared on social media showed two men arguing about national identity, before one man doused the other with liquid and set him alight. He was in critical condition, hospital officials said.

The Global Times, a Chinese nationalist state-run tabloid, seized on the incident as evidence that “black-clad rioters” were “destroying the city.”

At a news conference Monday, police defended the officer’s decision to open fire earlier in the day, saying the protester had wanted to take the officer’s firearm.

“He was under threat by two people; if he lost his gun he would be under severe threat. Hence, he decided to fire,” Kwok Pak-chung, regional commander of Hong Kong island, told reporters.

The condition of the man, who was struck in the abdomen, was not life-threatening, Kwok said.

[China’s ominous warning to Hong Kong: Less tolerance, more patriotic education]

The unrest marks the worst violence in Hong Kong in decades, posing a quandary for China’s leader, Xi Jinping, who has sought to bring Hong Kong to heel without resorting to Tiananmen Square-style bloodshed.

In the United States, Congress is considering a bill that would pave the way for sanctions against individuals who undermine Hong Kong’s autonomy. The bill, approved unanimously by the House, would require the U.S. government to consider annually whether it should continue to treat Hong Kong as a trading entity separate from mainland China in response to political developments. However, the bill is stuck in the Senate, where Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) so far has declined to bring it to a debate.

Hong Kong is governed by a “one country, two systems” arrangement under which Beijing pledged to maintain the territory’s relative freedoms and autonomy for half a century after its return to Chinese rule in 1997. But China has been tightening its grip, triggering anger in Hong Kong and uncertainty about its status as a global financial center.

At the heart of the stalemate is the fact that Hong Kong’s leader is not directly elected, but chosen by a committee that largely consists of Beijing loyalists. Many here perceive local authorities as conspiring with the Chinese government to undermine Hong Kong’s rule of law and bind the territory more closely with mainland China.

Shannon Stapleton

Reuters

A man extinguishes a fire set by protesters at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University on Monday.

There has been speculation the government might use the worsening violence as a pretext to suspend local district elections planned for Nov. 24, though so far officials have said they would like the vote to proceed if possible. Although Hong Kong does not have genuine universal suffrage, a quasi-democratic process exists to choose local district councilors.

The Electoral Affairs Commission issued a statement Monday urging the public to “keep calm and return to rationality,” to allow the elections to proceed.

“However, it is important to note that the smooth proceeding of [the] election owes much to the full co-operation of all Hong Kong citizens to create a safe environment for Hong Kong,” a spokesman said.

Separately, Hong Kong’s government sought to dispel “online rumors” that it would suspend work, school classes and trading on the city’s stock market, one of the world’s largest. Such claims were “absolutely not true,” a government spokesman said. The benchmark Hang Seng Index slumped more than 2.6 percent on Monday.

Carrie Lam, Hong Kong’s leader, has declined to launch an independent inquiry into the police force, insisting that the city wait for the outcome of a probe by the existing police watchdog, which has limited powers.

Amnesty International branded Monday’s shooting “another shocking low for the Hong Kong police” and called for an urgent independent examination.

In the meantime, protesters continue to turn their fury on police.

“They’re crazy. It’s outrageous,” said Kong, a 27-year-old woman on her lunch break, referring to Monday’s shooting. “They’ve lost control.”

David Crawshaw in Hong Kong and Liu Yang in Beijing contributed to this report.

Read more

Hong Kong police shoot at pro-democracy protesters

Buffeted by trade war and Hong Kong protests, China’s Xi Jinping seeks to project stability

China’s ominous warning to Hong Kong: Less tolerance, more patriotic education

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2019-11-11 10:38:00Z
52780432625865

Day of rage plunges Hong Kong into turmoil after police shoot protester - The Washington Post

Kin Cheung AP Riot police fire tear gas in central Hong Kong on Monday.

HONG KONG — The shooting of a pro-democracy protester by Hong Kong police unleashed a chaotic chain of events on Monday, as thousands of demonstrators clashed with riot police in the city’s financial district and violent confrontations erupted at university campuses, plunging the Asian financial hub further into turmoil.

Tensions soared across the city. In the afternoon, police fired tear gas as a melee of protesters and office workers packed streets and flyovers in the downtown area. “Disband the police!” they shouted. Protesters threw debris into the road, brought traffic to a halt, and set fires. Later, a man was doused with liquid and set alight.

There had been calls for a general strike on Monday, the latest step in months of anti-government unrest that has convulsed the former British colony and posed a direct challenge to Chinese rule. But the immediate spark for the escalation came when a police officer fired live rounds in the Sai Wan Ho neighborhood early in the day, critically injuring a 21-year-old protester who appeared to be unarmed. Police confirmed that one man had been shot by an officer.

“It’s a police state in Hong Kong,” said Jerry, 26, a finance worker who joined the protests and gave only one name out of fear of retribution. “Police are murderers.”

[Hong Kong police shoot at pro-democracy protesters]

Throughout more than five months of unrest, Beijing has exhorted Hong Kong’s leaders to clamp down harder on the dissenters. Hong Kong authorities have obliged with thousands of arrests, draconian new laws, a barrage of tear gas, and the detention of pro-democracy lawmakers. A protester died Friday after falling in a parking garage several days earlier as police dispersed demonstrators nearby.

Yet far from blunting the democracy movement, the intensifying crackdown has prompted protesters to adopt more aggressive tactics. With the deeply divided city descending into disorder, there has been no sign that Beijing might change tack or allow the Hong Kong government to offer a political compromise.

Nicole Tung

Bloomberg

People react to tear gas fired by police in Hong Kong’s downtown area on Monday, after thousands took to the streets to protest the police shooting of a demonstrator.

“Senior officials have issued very draconian comments regarding the promulgation of a national security law and stepping up overall control,” said Willy Lam Wo-Lap, a professor of Chinese politics at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. “This, together with the death of the student protester last week, is responsible for today’s outbreak of disorder.”

Student protesters “see no future ahead of them” because of the government’s crackdown and refusal to compromise, Lam added. “It seems like Beijing wants to use [the escalating protests] as an excuse to impose tougher measures,” he said, predicting that unless the Hong Kong government agrees to an independent inquiry into the police, the situation will deteriorate.

In Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang declined to comment on the shooting of the protester, referring reporters to other government departments. The State Council did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

[Buffeted by trade war and Hong Kong protests, China’s Xi Jinping seeks to project stability]

At an evening news conference, Hong Kong chief executive Carrie Lam told reporters that protesters were “destroying society” and labeled them “the people’s enemy,” saying their actions had far exceeded demands for democracy. The government would not bow to such pressure, she said. Some 60 people had been injured in Monday’s clashes, she added.

Protests began in June when Hong Kong’s leader tried to push through a now-shelved proposal to allow criminal suspects to face trial in mainland China. But the movement has widened into a broader uprising against Beijing’s encroachment on Hong Kong’s autonomy, encompassing demands for full democracy and police accountability.

The unrest has pushed the city into recession. On Monday, numerous shops were closed, train lines were shut and many workers unable to reach their offices. Universities canceled classes. Police said a petrol bomb was thrown into a subway car. A police officer who rode a motorcycle into a crowd of demonstrators was placed on leave pending an investigation.

In central Hong Kong, as police retreated in vans at one point in the afternoon, crowds on the footbridges above chanted “fight for freedom, stand with Hong Kong!” Other onlookers shouted and threw debris at police vans as they departed.

Protesters occupied a main thoroughfare, erecting barricades and setting fires near high-end hotels. As protesters blocked a road tunnel, they clashed with onlookers and taxi drivers. Some travelers abandoned their cars and walked with their suitcases.

Kin Cheung

AP

Protesters burn debris to block a road on Monday. Hong Kong’s political crisis has pushed the city into turmoil.

Scuffles broke out between protesters and Chinese government supporters. Footage shared on social media showed two men arguing about national identity, before one man doused the other with liquid and set him alight. He was in critical condition, hospital officials said.

The Global Times, a Chinese nationalist state-run tabloid, seized on the incident in the Ma On Shan neighborhood as evidence that “black-clad rioters” were “destroying the city.”

At a news conference Monday, police defended the officer’s decision to open fire earlier in the day, saying the protester had wanted to take the officer’s firearm.

“He was under threat by two people; if he lost his gun he would be under severe threat. Hence, he decided to fire,” Kwok Pak-chung, regional commander of Hong Kong island, told reporters.

The condition of the man, who was struck in the abdomen, was not life-threatening, Kwok said.

[China’s ominous warning to Hong Kong: Less tolerance, more patriotic education]

The unrest marks the worst violence in Hong Kong in decades, posing a quandary for China’s leader, Xi Jinping, who has sought to bring Hong Kong to heel without resorting to Tiananmen Square-style bloodshed.

In the United States, Congress is considering a bill that would pave the way for sanctions against individuals who undermine Hong Kong’s autonomy. The bill, approved unanimously by the House, requires the U.S. government to consider annually whether it should continue to treat Hong Kong as a trading entity separate from mainland China in response to political developments.

Hong Kong is governed by a “one country, two systems” arrangement under which Beijing pledged to maintain the territory’s relative freedoms and autonomy for half a century after its return to Chinese rule in 1997. But China has been tightening its grip, triggering anger in Hong Kong and uncertainty about its status as a global financial center.

At the heart of the stalemate is the fact that Hong Kong’s leader is not directly elected, but chosen by a committee that largely consists of Beijing loyalists. Many here perceive local authorities as conspiring with the Chinese government to undermine Hong Kong’s rule of law and bind the territory more closely with mainland China.

Shannon Stapleton

Reuters

A man extinguishes a fire set by protesters at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University on Monday.

There has been speculation the government might use the worsening violence as a pretext to suspend local district elections planned for Nov. 24, though so far officials have said they would like the vote to proceed if possible. Although Hong Kong does not have genuine universal suffrage, a quasi-democratic process exists to choose local district councilors.

The Electoral Affairs Commission issued a statement Monday urging the public to “keep calm and return to rationality,” to allow the elections to proceed.

“However, it is important to note that the smooth proceeding of [the] election owes much to the full co-operation of all Hong Kong citizens to create a safe environment for Hong Kong,” a spokesman said.

Separately, Hong Kong’s government sought to dispel “online rumors” that it would suspend work, school classes and trading on the city’s stock market, one of the world’s largest. Such claims were “absolutely not true,” a government spokesman said. The benchmark Hang Seng Index slumped more than 2.6 percent on Monday.

Carrie Lam, Hong Kong’s leader, has declined to launch an independent inquiry into the police force, insisting that the city wait for the outcome of a probe by the existing police watchdog, which has limited powers.

Amnesty International branded Monday’s shooting “another shocking low for the Hong Kong police” and called for an urgent independent inquiry.

In the meantime, protesters continue to turn their fury on police.

“They’re crazy. It’s outrageous,” said Kong, a 27-year-old woman on her lunch break, referring to Monday’s police shooting. “They’ve lost control.”

David Crawshaw in Hong Kong and Liu Yang in Beijing contributed to this report.

Read more

Hong Kong police shoot at pro-democracy protesters

Buffeted by trade war and Hong Kong protests, China’s Xi Jinping seeks to project stability

China’s ominous warning to Hong Kong: Less tolerance, more patriotic education

Today’s coverage from Post correspondents around the world

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2019-11-11 09:51:00Z
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'Leave now': Australians urged to evacuate as 'catastrophic' fires loom - CNBC

Fire burns on Bolivia Hill near Glen Innes, Australia, on November 10, 2019

Brook Mitchell | Getty Images

Authorities declared a state of emergency across a broad swath of Australia's east coast on Monday, urging residents in high risk areas to evacuate ahead of looming "catastrophic" fire conditions.

Bushfires burning across New South Wales (NSW) and Queensland states have already killed three people and destroyed more than 150 homes. Officials expect adverse heat and wind conditions to peak at unprecedented levels on Tuesday.

Bushfires are a common and deadly threat in Australia's hot, dry summers but the current severe outbreak, well before the summer peak, has caught many by surprise.

"Everybody has to be on alert no matter where you are and everybody has to be assume the worst and we cannot allow complacency to creep in," NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian told reporters in Sydney.

The country's most populous city has been designated at "catastrophic fire danger" for Tuesday, when temperatures as high as 37 degrees Celsius (98.6 degrees Fahrenheit) are forecast to combine with powerful winds for potentially deadly conditions. It is the first time Sydney has been rated at that level since new fire danger ratings were introduced in 2009.

Home to more than 5 million people, Sydney is ringed by large areas of bushland, much of which remains tinder dry following little rain across the country's east coast in recent months.

"Tomorrow is about protecting life, protecting property and ensuring everybody is safe as possible," Berejiklian said.

Lawmakers said the statewide state of emergency — giving firefighters broad powers to control government resources, force evacuations, close roads and shut down utilities — would remain in place for seven days.

On Monday afternoon, the fire service authorised use of the Standard Emergency Warning Signal, an alarm and verbal warning that will be played on radio and television stations every hour.

NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS) Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons urged people to evacuate before conditions worsened, warning that new fires can begin up to 20km (12 miles) ahead of established fires.

"Relocate while things are calm without the pressure or anxiety of fires bearing down the back door," he said.

Authorities stressed that even fireproofed homes will not be able to withstand catastrophic conditions, which Fitzsimmons described as "when lives are lost, it's where people die".

More than 100 schools will be closed on Tuesday. 

On Monday afternoon, rescue services were moving large animals from high risk areas, while health officials warned that air quality across NSW will worsen as winds blow smoke from the current mid-north coast bushfires south.

The fires have already had a devastating impact on Australia's wildlife, with about 350 koalas feared dead in a major habitat. 

Climate change debate

Australia's worst bushfires on record destroyed thousands of homes in Victoria in February 2009, killing 173 people and injuring 414 on a day the media dubbed "Black Saturday".

The current fires, however, come weeks ahead of the southern hemisphere summer, sharpening attention on the policies of Australia's conservative government to address climate change.

Environmental activists and opposition lawmakers have used the fires to call on Prime Minister Scott Morrison, a supporter of the coal industry, to strengthen the country's emissions targets.

Morrison declined to answer questions about whether the fires were linked to climate change when he visited fire-hit areas in the north of NSW over the weekend.

Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack on Monday accused climate activists of politicising a tragedy at the expense of people in the danger zones. 

"What we are doing is taking real and meaningful action to reduce global emissions without shutting down all our industries," McCormack told Australian Broadcasting Corp radio.

"They don't need the ravings of some pure, enlightened and woke capital city greenies at this time, when they're trying to save their homes."

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https://www.cnbc.com/2019/11/11/australians-urged-to-evacuate-as-catastrophic-fires-loom.html

2019-11-11 08:21:00Z
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