After a largely peaceful public holiday on last Friday, protestors in Hong Kong held demonstrations against China in which the Hong Kong police resorted to using pepper spray to disperse the crowd. As the fear of pandemic wanes away, Hong Kong has started witnessing small demonstrations in recent weeks.
On Wednesday, China warned Hong Kong that it would not tolerate them “stirring up trouble again”.
“We noticed that the black violent forces slowed down a little when faced with the Hong Kong epidemic, but now they are stirring up trouble again.” State Council’s Hong Kong and Macau Affairs, China’s top body overseeing Hong Kong said in a statement.
While China has been upset with the usage of the term “Wuhan Virus” or “Chinese Virus”, the statement referred the made-in-China virus and its ensuing epidemic as “Hong Kong epidemic”.
The body also said that “the central government will not sit idly and watch these insane and wantonly destructive forces” and added that the protestors wanted to “drag Hong Kong off a cliff”.
The semi-autonomous region of Hong Kong saw violent protests that began in June 2019 in response to a bill that allowed extraditions to mainland China. The courts in mainland China are controlled by the Communist Party. The bill was then withdrawn by Hong Kong’s Chief Executive Carrie Lam. However, the protests have gradually gone on to include demands for democracy.