Hong Kong Rallies Peacefully on Diaoyu as Riots Spread Across China

by P H Yang Photography (phyang.org)

Hong Kong - 16 September 2012

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Protesters in Hong Kong rallied peacefully against Japanese 'nationalization' of Diaoyu Islands. Tensions between the two countries grew after the Japanese government bought the disputed islands from private Japanese owners.

5,000 joined the peaceful rally to protest the Japanese government’s plan to ‘nationalize’ the disputed Diaoyu Islands, claimed the Action Committee to Defend Diaoyu Islands of Hong Kong. The police reported a peak of about 850 people.

Meanwhile, out-of-control anti-Japanese riots in mainland China had spread to 85 cities where burning and looting occurred in many cities like Xian, Changsha, Qingdao, Guangzhou and Shenzhen.

The rally started from Victoria Park in Causeway Bay at 3 and ended at the Consulate General of Japan in Hong Kong at Exchange Square in Central. Many parents participated with their children and expressed the hope of a civic education.

Tsang Kin-shing, aka 'The Bull', who landed on the Diaoyu Islands recently and hailed as a national hero, spoke and is one of the committee members who led the rally.

Participants included delegations of Diaoyu Islands action groups from the Mainland and also from Taiwan and Macau. The organizers called on the demonstrators to be peaceful and rational in expressing their demands. Dozens of volunteers were deployed along the way to maintain order.

As the protesters marched peacefully pass Sogo in Causeway Bay, one of the largest Japanese department stores, a man dressed in a red polo shirt and red cap, who is not participating in the rally, started to burn an American flag and a Japanese flag. The Police immediately put out the fire and took him away in a police car.

The procession shouted boycott, economic sanctions against Japan and other slogans. Demonstrators carried banner and protest signs while Benson rallied in an ex-Chinese Red Army uniform waving a Chinese flag.

After they arrived at the Consulate General of Japan in central, they read out their demand, burned a Japanese flag and dispersed peacefully.

Tsang vowed that they will fixed their boat, damaged by the Japanese coast guards during the last encounter near the Diaoyu Islands when five activists landed on one of the islands, and soon start another expedition to the islands and attempt to land again.