China’s armed police conducted a large-scale anti-riot drill on Saturday near the Hong Kong border as more than 10,000 paramilitary officers have reportedly amassed to wait for Beijing’s command for a potential crackdown on protesters.
Latest footage released by Chinese state newspaper People’s Daily shows rows of armoured cars and hundreds of determined police officers ready themselves in Shenzhen in southern China’s Guangdong Province.
The new clip also shows military trucks fitted with water cannons taking on protesters played by actors.
Chinese media claimed that more than 10,000 paramilitary police officers have amassed in the border city of Shenzhen to wait for Beijing’s command for a potential crackdown on protesters
Latest footage released by Chinese state newspaper People’s Daily shows rows of armoured cars and hundreds of determined police officers ready themselves in Shenzhen on Saturday
One of the officers is seen pointing a gun at protesters played by actors during staged clashes
Hong Kong police unveiled a similar type of water cannon truck earlier this month and said it would be used on activists.
Amnesty International warned such vehicles could lead to serious injuries if misused within Hong Kong’s confined spaces.
The new exercise was carried out on the day Beijing supporters staged a counter rally in Hong Kong to condemn violence and separatism.
People’s Daily reported more than 470,000 people showed up at the pro-China demonstration.
It also took place one day before pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong put on their biggest show of force ever on Sunday in a mammoth demonstration.
Organisers claimed 1.7million people – a full quarter of the city’s population – took to the streets.
The new clip also shows military trucks fitted with water cannons (top left) taking on protesters played by actors. Hong Kong police unveiled a similar type of water cannon truck this month
A division of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) warned in a social media post last week that it would only take the police 10 minutes to hit Hong Kong from the Shenzhen border
Chinese paramilitary police are seen swearing their loyalty to Beijing as they assemble at the large-scale anti-riot drill on Saturday. Hundreds of military vehicles have reportedly been sent to Shenzhen Bay Sports Centre, which is just 4.5 miles from the border with Hong Kong
An aerial view shows armed police officers and military vehicles gathering for the exercise
Footage and videos from last week showed China had mobilised hundreds of military vehicles and thousands of paramilitary police to Shenzhen, which shares a 22-mile long border with Hong Kong.
The troops were stationed in Shenzhen Bay Sports Centre across the habour from the financial hub.
In a social media post, a division of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) warned that it would only take the police 10 minutes to hit Hong Kong after tens of thousands of protesters occupied the city’s airport for six days. The rallies caused the airport authority to cancel hundreds of flights in and out of the transit hub for two days.
Police and soldiers were photographed practising a crowd control exercise with terrifying giant forks which, if electric, are capable of causing burns and puncture wounds.
Chinese servicemen attend a crowd control exercise at the Shenzhen Bay Sports Center in Shenzhen across the bay from Hong Kong on August 16. One of the soldiers is seen carrying a huge fork, which may also be electric, to be used in crowd control during a staged clash
Police and soldiers were photographed on August 16 using the weapon which, if electric, can cause burns and puncture wounds, as the former British colony braced for another week of protests that could see more than a million people on the street
Chinese servicemen attend a crowd control exercise at the Shenzhen Bay Sports Center
One soldier was seen brandishing the fork with several members of the police while, in a second image, they were seen using it against a mock protester.
Amnesty International has previously warned against using the weapons which can result in ‘intense, both localised and general, pain but not incapacitation of the subject’.
‘Because of their nature and design, direct contact shock weapons carry an unacceptable risk of arbitrary force,’ they said.
U.S. President Trump has lent his support to the demonstrators, warning China that the U.S. would find it ‘very hard’ to continue trade negotiations if violence is used to quell the protests.
‘I think it’d be very hard to deal if they do violence, I mean, if it’s another Tiananmen Square,’ Trump told reporters in New Jersey on Sunday. ‘I think it’s a very hard thing to do if there’s violence.’
In response, Beijing today stressed that Hong Kong affairs were part of China’s internal affairs.
Geng Shuang, a spokesperson of China’s Foreign Ministry, said he hoped President Trump and his administration could stick to his earlier comment.
President Trump had said: ‘Because Hong Kong is a part of China. They have to deal that themselves. They don’t need advice.’
In a commentary today, China’s state newspaper Global Times condemned Washington for linking the trade talks and Hong Kong protests.
U.S. President Trump has lent his support to the demonstrators, warning China that the U.S. would find it ‘very hard’ to continue trade negotiations if violence is used to quell the protests
Hundreds of thousands of Hong Kong protesters yesterday defied Beijing’s warnings and staged a peaceful march in heavy rain, marking the 11th weekend of rallies in the Asian financial hub. Pictured, people gather in front of the White House in Washington on Sunday
‘All we can say is some people in the United States lack self-awareness of their national strategies and still believe that the United States can achieve anything. [They] even give out orders to a big country like China.’
The paper continued: ‘[Washington’s] financial capabilities is already failing to support the superpower to splurge [its resources] politically.’
Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei last week warned that pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong could end up as a repeat of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown in Beijing.
Watching the Hong Kong protests from afar, the 61-year-old said in his Berlin studio: ‘I don’t think any prediction is too big.’
China ‘is a society which sacrifices anything to maintain its control,’ he warned.
Chinese military personnel maintain trucks and armoured personnel vehicles are seen parked outside the Shenzhen Bay stadium near the border between Hong Kong and mainland Friday
Chinese artist Ai WeiWei says China is ‘a society sacrifices anything to maintain its control’. He feared Hong Kong protests could be a repeat of the Tiananmen Square crackdown in 1989
The bloodbath was immortalised by the above picture called the ‘Tank Man’, which shows a student holding bags of grocers standing in front of a row of tanks to protest at the clampdown by the armies against its own people. The picture was taken by photographer Jeff Widener of the Associated Press from a sixth-floor balcony of the Beijing Hotel near Tiananmen
Although most analysts consider a full-blown crackdown unlikely, fears of worse to come have hovered over the former British colony that was returned to China in 1997.
Ai, a long-time and outspoken government critic, said he had no illusions that Beijing values order above all else.
Hong Kong police last week said they were unaware of any plans by China to bolster their own ranks with mainland troops or police officers, even if the political chaos worsens.
Three senior commanders admitted that any move to do so would place the city’s police force in uncharted waters.
But, they insisted, the issue was moot because the local force could handle the crisis.
‘I can’t envisage it,’ said one senior commander. ‘At the operational level we have considerable depth. I think we have the determination, the cohesiveness and the depth of resources to keep going.’
A satellite image shows military and security vehicles parked in a stadium in Shenzhen
Chinese state media also released videos to show tanks and military trucks being mobilised
Hong Kong and the mainland Chinese city of Shenzhen shares a 37-kilometre-long (22-mile-long) border. The satellite images suggested the military trucks have been assembled in Shenzhen Bay, a stone’s throw from Hong Kong across the water
The three Hong Kong police officers agreed to sit down with a group of foreign journalists on condition of anonymity so they could speak more freely during the worst unrest the force has faced since leftist riots in the late 1960s.
Commenting on yesterday’s mass rally, Hu Xijin, the editor-in-chief of Chinese state newspaper Global Times, again voiced his support for Hong Kong police.
The 59-year-old wrote on China’s Twitter-like Weibo: ‘The extreme opposition force in Hong Kong do not appear to want to stop [rallying], but the overall climate is changing, mainland armed police are assembling in Shenzhen and the voice of justice is rising in all aspects.’
He added: ‘Hong Kong police add oil. All people who love Hong Kong and China add oil’.
Police forces in Shenzhen conducted their previous large-scale drill on August 6.
The exercise involved 12,000 police officers, 50 armoured vehicles, 200 police vans, 1,200 police motorbikes, five helicopters, eight boats and two amphibious vehicles, the Shenzhen police said in a statement on social media.
The police fired a type of newly developed tear gas during stage clashes. The weapon was said to be able to disperse a larger crowd in a bigger area.