Xi Jinping only arrived in Hong Kong at noon today, but there’s been a palpable sense of anticipation – or perhaps trepidation – brewing in the city for days.
Extensive security measures such as huge water-filled barriers, glued-down bricks, and multiple traffic-stopping motorcade drills have all been witnessed in Hong Kong this week, attracting intense criticism online, with many Hongkongers asking what exactly Xi is “so afraid of”.
In a security briefing earlier this week, Assistant Police Commissioner Cheng Yiu-mo asked people to be “patient” when traveling around Wan Chai North, where the president’s delegation is staying, due to multiple roads being closed and at least 35 bus routes being altered or suspended.
Pavement bricks have also been glued down around the area to prevent protesters from uprooting them to use as missiles, like they did in the Mong Kok riot.
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In a Facebook video titled, “What’s there to fear about water barriers?”, the Hong Kong Police Force said the barriers are “counter-terrorism” measures, citing recent examples in foreign countries of cars “ploughing into crowds”.
A massive security presence is expected, with thousands of police deployed to maintain order as protests simmer, some near his hotel, as well as at the annual July 1st rally that some say could draw more than 100,000 people.
Xi, on his first visit to Hong Kong as China’s president, will oversee the swearing in of the city’s first female leader, Carrie Lam. He will also visit the local People’s Liberation Army garrison and meet establishment figures as part of his “inspection” of the city, while his wife, Peng Liyuan, is expected to visit a kindergarten and an elderly home.
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The streets of Hong Kong have been festooned with Chinese banners and paraphernalia, including two huge harborfront screens carrying celebratory messages. Upwards of 120,000 youngsters will join China patriotic activities at a time of growing disillusionment with Beijing among the city’s younger generation.
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“We … just hope our people can live in peace and contentment,” Lee Wing-lung, 66, a retired engineer told Reuters as he stood opposite Xi’s hotel, taking snapshots with his phone.
“I hope Hong Kong can have a good and peaceful atmosphere.”
Over the past five years, under Xi’s tenure as Chinese leader and amid a ferocious crackdown on civil society and critics on the mainland, the squeeze on Hong Kong’s autonomy has intensified, say some diplomats, activists and citizens.
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While the July 1 protest march is still over a day away, Hongkongers have already expressed their disapproval over Xi rather vocally. Activists led by democracy leader Joshua Wong protested at the Golden Bauhinia statue near Xi’s hotel twice this week – on Monday, when they draped the statue in black cloth, and yesterday, when they climbed it. They are still under arrest.
At about 6:30pm today, a group of Umbrella Movement supporters, including veteran LegCo member Claudio Mo, gathered in the Central business district to “Sing for Democracy”.
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Cartoons mocking the heavy security presence have surfaced online, with many making the point that Xi wouldn’t be able to “inspect” Hong Kong properly with all the road diversions, water barriers, and police officers.
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Artists have also taken to the streets, with one graffiti artist named “Street Art Boy” stamping handover banners and even the Wan Chai water barriers with the words “Hong Kong has fallen for 20 years”:
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One pro-democracy group compared the barriers to the Great Wall of China, writing in a comment, “In the olden days, Emperor Qin Shi Huang built the Great Wall to block foreign powers. Today, Emperor Xi has put up water barriers to block the people from being heard.”
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Words: Coconuts Hong Kong, with reporting by Reuters
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