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A comprehensive exercise was conducted by Chinese paramilitary People’s Armed Police in Shenzhen, right next to Hong Kong.
There’s a nice trailer to go with it and they carried out all sorts of mock operations.
Notably, the Chinese police used what MSM calls a “giant devil fork,” to more than anything treat protesters like cattle.
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There is some speculation that it is electrified, but that appears to be completely untrue (or, at least, quite unlikely and unconfirmed).
Officers were seen using two and a half metre, U-shaped poles, which look similar to giant forks, during the training drill.
Amnesty International discourages use of electrified weapons to deal with a crowd of protesters, but there’s also no evidence to back any claims that the “devil fork” is electrified at all.
“A wide range of direct contact electric shock weapons including electric shock stun guns, stun batons and stun shields have been developed, traded and employed by police and security forces throughout the world,” Amnesty International said. “The use of such weapons results 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.”
Photos from the drills show officers carrying the huge fork-like weapons as they advance on a person appearing to imitate a protester.
The drills are an obvious warning to the “pro-democracy” protesters who are throwing fire bombs at authorities and vandalizing government buildings.
It should be noted that protests on August 17th and 18th were a shift in direction, with them becoming exquisitely peaceful.
Reportedly, 1.7 million took to the streets and there was no violence during the march.
1.7 million ppl on the streets,
10 hours of omni-directional march,
Not one piece of glass broken.
Not one person hurt nor beaten.
And, not one policeman in sight.That is the self-discipline and quality of Hongkongers, my friends.#HKprotests #nopolicenoviolence pic.twitter.com/KtjiWYFklp
— Denise Ho (HOCC) (@hoccgoomusic) August 18, 2019
Hong Kong's Victoria Park filled with protesters today in the latest anti-government rally pic.twitter.com/XdIb24DlXv
— SCMP News (@SCMPNews) August 18, 2019
Chief Executive Carrie Lam, too, praised the protests on the last weekend of being peaceful and saying that there seems to be hope of dialogue.
“I sincerely hope that this was the beginning of society returning to peace and staying away from violence,” Lam said.
“We will immediately start the work to establish a platform for dialogue. This dialogue, I hope, will be based on a mutual understanding and respect and will find a way out for today’s Hong Kong.”
Further protests are planned in the next few days, including one by MTR subway workers on August 21st, secondary school students on August 22nd and accountants on August 23rd.
Lam said Hong Kong had “unique advantages in attracting overseas companies”, stressing the rule of law, but warned of the risk of pressure on the economy which shrank 0.4 per cent in April-June from the previous quarter.
“The Hong Kong economy is facing the risk of downturn. We can see this from the data in the first half. Actually, I think the data in the first half has not fully reflected the seriousness of the problem,” she said.
She stopped short of agreeing to protesters’ demands for an independent inquiry into police conduct. Instead, she offered to have overseas experts roped into a fact-finding study conducted by the Independent Police Complaints Council (IPCC).
“One is an important fact-finding study in addition to a very robust system to investigate and look at the complaints against police over this prolonged period of confrontation and violence. The other, a more rare arrangement, is for the IPCC, which is statutory and independent, to create a fact-finding study into the causes and the facts of these incidents,” said the leader.
Wong Yik-mo, vice-convener for the Civil Human Rights Front – the group behind the biggest marches that have taken place over the past three months – dismissed Mrs Lam’s promised platform for dialogue as a waste of time and money.
“She is fully aware that there is no leader… this is a leaderless movement, so why does she still suggest such a platform?” he asked. “She is so obsessed with her old tricks. We see this platform as a trap because Carrie Lam has a very bad track record. She has made numerous promises and she has never fulfilled any of them.”
It appears that, at least, this week the strategy of the protest had changed, with China earlier calling recent protests in Moscow a sign of foreign interference, and also calling the Hong Kong ones a sign of such actions.
Specifically, the US and specific “EU actors” were accused. It appeared that the warnings, and with state-run Global Times publishing an article saying that Hong Kong would not turn into another “Tiananmen Square” was a sort of wake-up call for how far authorities could be pushed before the protests are quelled.
Be it with “giant, terrifying devil forks” or other means. But, these exercises carried out by the People’s Armed Police are showing – no lethal weapons were used or showed in the trainings, everything that was presented simply showed ways of handling a rioting crowd.
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Incoming castrated Russians happy others will be castrated like them
m8 for real did a russian rape you or smth? cuz you are almost as butthurt as a westen ukrainian rn XD
Well done China. Don’t let these morons to make China another Syria or Palestine.
Fascinating “objective quality” of Western journalism, or should I rather say lack of. While Yellow West protest movement in France have been ongoing for months now, and the police brutality against the protesters as well as journalists being beaten up and pepper-sprayed in broad daylight in front of tv cameras on a daily basis, and the absolute silence or reporting in Western media about these events are absolutely deafening. Now let us go back to Hongkong and engage in some good ol hypocrisy journalism, shall we …
Proof of Chinese police brutality and violence. These devil forks have electricity inside and begin to burn the innocent civilians when they hit and get caught. In some occasions peaceful moderate protesters body have been burnt over in a half and half. This amount to war crimes and UNSC should take action for a no fly zone over Hong Kong as in Libya to neutralise the fat lamb China. Where are Hillary Clinton when we need her?