Hong Kong | Protests ease after weekend of arrests

Hong Kong’s streets returned to relative normalcy going into the Christmas holiday after a tense weekend in which a police officer drew and pointed his revolver at a protesting crowd but no shots were fired.

Sunday’s incident came after a reported attack on police during a demonstration in support of minority Muslim Uighurs, who have been subject to a crackdown by the Chinese government in the far western region of Xinjiang. There was no escalation beyond what have become routine weekend scuffles and arrests in the Asian financial hub.

Often-violent protests over the last six months have centered on the city’s freedom from China’s grip. But the latest round of demonstrations expanded to the rights of the Uighurs. A United Nations assessment has estimated that tens of thousands to “upwards of 1 million” members of the minority have been detained in the mainland. Beijing has said its crackdown is fighting separatism and religious extremism.

Hundreds of demonstrators gathered – at first peacefully – at Edinburgh Place in support of the Uighurs. Police stormed the rally, witnesses said, after a Chinese flag was ripped off a pole near City Hall.

The police said in a statement that when they tried to make an arrest, protesters hurled objects, and one person tried to snatch an officer’s gun. At least two people were arrested, police said.

The government said in a statement late Sunday that it “strongly” condemned some participants’ waving flags and making speeches advocating Hong Kong independence. It also condemned their removal of the Chinese flag and placing it on the ground.

The protest is in support of the Spark Alliance, a group that has raised money to help support the demonstrators. Last week, the police arrested four people connected with the alliance for suspected money laundering, and authorities froze HKD70 million ($9 million) in local bank deposits and personal insurance products linked to the fund, while confiscating HKD130,000 in cash. The alliance says the allegations are malicious.

Hong Kong’s protests began in June over since-scrapped legislation allowing extraditions to China and have expanded into calls for greater democracy in the former British colony. Stanley James & Ian Fisher, MDT/Bloomberg