For about the last half hour there has been issues in Mongkok, where some members of the "public," has torn down the covers the student has put up.
They pulled the tarp across the road and took it away. The students started chanting "calm," "peace," while also linking arms or have their hands held in the air.
Bystanders are cheering and jeering at the action. The crowd swelled, the anti-students group started pushing and shoving, the students until the police got between them linking arms. The irony!
The students chanted "calm, calm, calm. Stop."
The person on the microphone said they should leave the area, but I have no idea if it's the police, the student leader, or a member of the anti-occupy crowd.
When I saw this, My first thought is triads (gangs) and pro-China groups causing trouble. It's something that the protesters have worried about. That the Chinese government will plant trouble makers within the protest and act violently either towards the police or protesters. Choosing either to frighten away protesters or give the protesters a bad reputation or both.
On Saturday, they found bags of iron rods, and rocks left around areas of protests. The students found them. They are really heavy so it's obviously it was left there for a number of people to pick up and use. Just showing it was a planned attack.
It's hard for people outside of HK to understand that we aren't paranoid and there is a shadow society in HK especially in the areas such as Mongkok which is more working class. In fact, Mong kok is a well known area for such activity.
These are the same people who are hired to go to anti-democracy protests, or wave flags on national day.
And the reality of triads are undeniable. As much as there are the calm
Students and the solidly middle class formalities there is another sector of the population that do live off "the black society" (somewhere deep in the archives I talk about this.)
But it's also true most of Mongkok is full small family businesses that don't make a lot of profit, and also working class people who do hourly jobs who won't get paid if they don't work. With the bus lines shut it is a problem.. So it's not unthinkable that it is the residents who did it.
It's more than an hour and there seems to be more people in the area than ever before. The sound feed is down so it's impossible to tell if the crowd is full of residents who are tired of the occupation, or people supporting the students helping them by standing firm. There are lots of cameras out. Could be a lot of bystanders too.
(There is a press conference by 27 Legislators giving everyone a lecture. It's honestly so hard to blog two things at once. I am just writing notes for that.)
Yan Sham-Shackleton Online 