I am currently watching the live broadcast of the police stand-off with the demonstrators at the Queen’s Pier, Central, Hong Kong. The police action started at 11:00 this morning.
They went in to remove the demonstrators holding out at the pier, including the three on hunger strike for the past 100 hours, and 8 demonstrators who were camped out on the roof of the pier.
For those who do not know about the dispute. You can read more about it in a very up to date Wikipedia entry for the pier.
In short, the Queen’s Pier is an “unofficial” historic site, located in Central district of Hong Kong next to the City Hall, was targeted to be demolished to give way to a transportation project to build a costal highway.
They just removed the last of the demonstrator from the roof of the pier.
I do agree that the demonstrators should voice their opinions against the demolition of Queen’s Pier, but at the same time, I do not agree with their extended defiant of the police instructions to leave.
We all have the rights to demonstrate and voice our opinions openly, which in this case the HKSAR government and the police allowed the public to do so, even after the deadline (August 1, 2007) to reclaim the property for the contractors.
Exercising our human rights is one thing, but defying the law is another. I do not see the need for the demonstrators to hold onto their positions after the police have ask them to leave. Nor do I agree with the demonstrators who attempt to break the police barricade violently.
The even more ridiculous thing is ATV 24 Hours News station broadcasting the demonstration live from 15:00 onwards until 21:30. Especially when there are many other important news in Hong Kong and elsewhere in the world. I agree that the event at Queen’s Pier is happening live, but the ATV reporters just kept repeating what they had said since 15:00.
