Thread by @XinqiSu

#THREAD starts here for #Jan1March in Hong Kong.
Peter (left) said “If you are serious about democracy, the only question for you is in which place you want to live in order to fight for human rights. Hong Kong remains my favourite place because of its unity.”

Pepe Squat is here around the fountain in Victoria Park #Jan1March #HKProtests

How many Pepes and Linden Pigs are here in Victoria Park? #Jan1March #hkprotest

Rivers like this have been flowing into Victoria Park in the past hour but it’s not as huge as the 6.9 and 6.12 marches because the park is still not full when we are just minutes to the gathering time at 2pm.
Note, I haven’t seen any police.

Stalls selling scarfs at the outskirts of Victoria Park decided to call it a day early as people are entering the park for #Jan1March

First two police seen around Victoria Park - two traffic police here to seal off a side street on Causeway Road

Doraemon going to Victoria Park with his time machine.

#NOW on Hennessy Road

One man in black shirt is being stopped and questioned at junction of Tonnochty Road anc Jeffe Road. Here are also teams of riot police, including their warning flag bearer.

Five more young men are stopped and searched by riot police on Jeffe/Tonnochy.

Two more men stopped for a search on Jeffe/Tonnochy , bringing total to eight.

Three more coming down from the Tonnochy Road footbridge are stopped for a search. A total of 11 now.

Police are stationing on side streets parallel to the main route of #Jan1March.
Over ten police vehicles, including some seven seaters, are parked on Johnston Road whole groups of riot police are on the ground along Jeffe Road and Lockhart Road, conducting stop and search.

#NOW dozens of riot police are out on Johnston Road for a search of a man.

#NOW Head of #Jan1March reached Southorn Playground in Wan Chai

Yellow economy in force

New recruitment ad of @hkpoliceforce : If you want to protect our home in Hong Kong.

This man wearing a cap with a name 蔣漢陽 in simplified Chinese and speaking Putonghua has become a centre of heckling and harassment as he said “we need to defend Hong Kong” to the marching crowd. His cap was thrown to the ground and people angrily ridiculed him.

The Putonghua-speaking man calling on the marching crowd not to protest but should instead focus on developing Hong King’s economy eventually left the road after his banners were grabbed and thrown away by a number of march goers.

I talked to the man after his banners were thrown. He said he is a migrant worker from Anhui and arrived in HK by train with a tourist visa. He said he came here becuz he read a news about a mainland woman being robbed by black clad people in Sheung Shui and he was angry about...

...situations in HK. He said he had no idea why people are marching and why they are angry at him. He said he didn’t learn anything more clearly from this trip but that does not matter at all. He believes marching is wrong though this march is not as violent as he was told.

Riot police out on Hennessy Road in Wan Chai after some black clad people tried to vandalise an HSBC branch. A red flag was brandished. Earlier @chrf_hk said on its FB that two masked men entered police cordon line after breaking the bank’s glasses.

A petrol bomb was hurled at police’s direction. Umbrella squat edging forward on Luard Road.

Frontline protester retreated a bit on Luard Road as peaceful march is still going on on Hennessy Road.

The tear gas grenade thrown earlier in Wan Chai.

Frontline protesters have largely left Luard Road and set up a simple barricade at the junction with Hennessy Road.

For a good photo...

The HSBC in Wan Chai is seriously ransacked. Broken glasses and blood are scattering on the floor. An opened backpack, two single shoes and a sock are left.

Ten minuets after police ordered @chrf_hk to terminate the march and ask march goers to “dismiss from where they are”.

Marchers continued to march on the west bound lanes of Hennessy Road while frontliners are grouping on the east bound lanes outside One Hennessy, close to police HQs.

Marchers at the left, fighters at the right.

Frontliners are rather angry at people pointing lasers at police from their back. “Don’t play laser! Don’t mess with the dogs(police)!”
An angry frontliner walked past me said,”I am in front to face bullets and you play laser at my back?”

Riot police and water cannon on Hennessy Road. Protesters have got out of sight on the road.

How riot police rudely drove @mantaichow and another reporter back to pavement. Media liaison officer said reporters were obstructing him.

Police got more irritated when they saw two first aiders walking with reporters on the pedestrian pavement. Some soon moved to accuse people of “disgusing as reporters and first aiders”.
They kept pushing from our behind, calling us rogue reporters and shouting “faster!”

I was pushed out when a video journalist walking next to me was suddenly snatched by riot police who forced him to walk fast when he appeared to have drop something and tried to pick up. The police loudly said he obstructed them, which was not what I saw.

What press freedom looks like on the first day of 2020 - the major group of reporters covering protests are cornered on Hennessy Road by riot police cordoning every sides around.

Water cannon fired on a flaming barricade on Hennessy Road near Tin Lok Lane.

Water cannon fired again after riot police made way for it by removing a barricade made with plastic wrap.

A tear gas grenade was thrown by one of three riot police left behind and freaked out outside Wan Chai Fire Station after one protester was seen trying to throw objects at them. They fired several rounds of pepper balls and used pepper spray before this - show in next tweet.

This is when the police who later threw a tear gas canister nervously edged to onlookers and used pepper spray. His teammate wielded pepper ball gun in lose range to a man angry at them.

“Reporter? How professional are you? I am professional. I am standing your ‘fuck you’,” the irritated officer shouted.
But who fell into the quarrel with him was a first aider.

A scene of our times outside Times Square #now : riot police patrolling in loud verbal abuse shouted by hundreds of passers by at their back. They pushed shoppers to walk faster, apparently tightening the man in orange T-shirt.

Blue flag warning of unlawful assembly raised at crowd outside Times Square

Water cannon drove into Jardine Crescent and seemed ready to come out from Pennington St and clear the roadblocks.
“Walk forward!” “Don’t film!” Are constantly shouted by police.

At first police asked reporters to get out of Pennington Street and film from pedestrian across Hennessy. Then they cleared reporters from the bridge, who were already far from them. Then they decided to seal off the bridge and asked us to leave the pavement. What is it about?

Riot police sprinted on Hennessy Road and charged at a crowd outside Sogo, making a number of firings.

One was subdued outside Sogo in the latest dash made by riot police in Causeway Bay

Dozens of people are pinned to wall from TSL to Bank of China on Hennessy Road. The largest crowd is outside CitiBank where two three layers of people are made to squat.

Riot police forced reporters to leave the pedestrian pavement where dozens are controlled. Riot police asked reporters to go on the pedestrian pavement across four driving lanes.

After reporters went to the pedestrian across Hennessy Road according to police demand, police ordered reporters to leave the pavement and walk down to Percival St, from where it’s impossible to film the dozens subdued. Blue flag was raised at reporters and people in the crowd.

Pepper spray was deployed and I saw masks of two first aiders got splashed when riot police tried to push reporters and the crowd on the pedestrian along the west bound lanes of Hennessy Road to back down.

As if pushing all reporters to the other side of Hennessy Road is not enough, police drove a long line of cars in to block the view of the row of people.

Riot police cordoning off Hennessy Road are rather offensive in their talking. Calling lawmaker Helena Wong and onlookers “trash”, ridiculing them for coming here for media exposure, accusing reporters of not filming vandalism, even saying jokingly that someone gonna jump off.

Three coaches are on Hennessy Road, supposedly for the long row of people subdued outside Citibank.

Riot police got on lawmaker Ted Hui again and wielded pepper spray in reporters’ face. They then raised blue flag, for the third time, threatening to forcibly disperse people on Percival Street.

Two men are surrounded outside Times Square and alleged to be plain clothed police.

The two men surrounded outside Times Square and alleged to be plain clothed police took down their masks and opened their bags to prove that they are not police.

Distance for police seems never enough although the rows of people subdued on Hennessy Road have been completely blocked by long lines of police cars, and reporters have been pushed several times from the road.

#BREAKING about 400 people have been arrested today for unlawful assembly and possession of offensive weapons , HK Island operations SSP Ng Lok-chun said. Operation is still going on at the time of speak.

SSP Ng’s argument of police not cutting the peaceful march at the waist was that the first tear gas used in Wan Chai outside HSBC was for police to defen themselves and the next tear gas came more than an hour after they demanded the march to be terminated.

SSP Ng Lok-chun categorically denied that police had involved in any vandalism act when asked about the case when two masked men entered police cordon without being arrested after they broke glasses of the HSBC in Wan Chai.