Hong Kong protesters beg Trump to ‘liberate’ city. Thousands of protesters in Hong Kong on Sunday chanted the US national anthem and called on President Trump to “liberate” the Chinese-ruled city. The throngs, wearing black shirts and masks, waved American flags, carried posters that read, “President Trump, please liberate Hong Kong” and sang “The Star-Spangled Banner” as they marched to the US Consulate under the watchful eyes of riot police. “Hong Kong is at the forefront of the battle against the totalitarian regime of China,” Panzer Chan, one of the organizers of the march, told the Associated Press. “Please support us in our fight.”
As Beijing seethes, protesters celebrate Trump’s signing of Hong Kong act. Dozens of American flags fluttered in the wind on Thanksgiving night in Hong Kong as thousands gathered at a rally in appreciation of the U.S. passage of two bills supporting human rights in Hong Kong that were signed into law by President Trump.
As a man sang “The Star-Spangled Banner,” a sea of cellphone torches lighted up the spaces between glittering skyscrapers in the city’s financial district. The crowd waved banners bearing the protest slogan: “Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times.”
“I guess Trump wanted to give us a Thanksgiving present, and we’re glad to accept,” said Wong Yiu-chung, a professor of politics at Lingnan University in Hong Kong who was attending the rally with his wife.
Wong said Trump probably signed the bill for his own benefit. “But sometimes interests coincide,” he said. “This act gives us a lot of hope.”
“I signed these bills out of respect for President Xi, China, and the people of Hong Kong,” Trump wrote in a statement. “They are being enacted in the hope that leaders and representatives of China and Hong Kong will be able to amicably settle their differences leading to long-term peace and prosperity for all.”
The law also calls for sanctions against Hong Kong and Chinese officials judged to have harmed human rights in Hong Kong. A second bill signed by Trump bans the export of riot control weapons including tear gas, pepper spray, rubber bullets and water cannons to Hong Kong.
Analysts say the new laws are mostly symbolic and unlikely to result in actual sanctions or a change in Hong Kong’s status anytime soon.
Trump signed the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act into law on Wednesday, mandating an annual review of whether Hong Kong retains enough autonomy to justify its special trade status with the United States. The semiautonomous Chinese territory has separate legal and economic systems because of its history as a British colony. Hong Kong protesters carry Trump's 'Rocky' photo in Thanksgiving rally. Pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong expressed thanks for President Trump on Thursday, holding up a picture of him as the fictional boxer Rocky Balboa.
The "Thanksgiving Rally" included people wearing the American flag and singing the national anthem. Thousands of people attended the rally after Trump approved legislation that authorized sanctions against human rights violators in China, according to The Washington Post.
Trump posted the now-viral boxing photo -- showing his face on actor Sylvester Stallone's body -- on Wednesday but it had reportedly already surfaced on the internet prior to his tweet.
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