Sad Bun

Most of my childhood we lived with our granma! And she would have delicious biscuit tins scattered everywhere and in her room! Which to my disappointment always contained sewing kits. I mean.. how many sewing kits can you have?? XDD

[video description: a sped up 30 second clip of the 9th June 2019 protest in Hong Kong depicting thousands of protesters marching, eventually breaking past the police barrier and flooding out onto the roads]

1 MILLION IN HONG KONG PROTEST AGAINST THE CHINESE EXTRADITION PLAN

The protesters marched towards the legislature against the proposed the Chinese extraction plan, which would enable the chief executive and local courts to handle extradition requests without legislative oversight or prior agreements. There will be a final vote before the current legislative period ends in July. The government has said the law will allow it to close a legal “loophole.” But lawyers, journalists, foreign politicians and businesses have raised concerns over the risk of residents being extradited to the mainland.

source:

WHY THIS IS IMPORTANT

Short version: This plan allows the Chinese government to arrest Hong Kong citizens without going through any prior agreements, and is a huge threat to citizens’ freedom and personal safety

China is notorious for it’s censorship, silencing any dissenters to their authority (e.g. the house arrest of several activists, including Liao Yiwu, and the Causeway Bay Books kidnapping in 2015)

Since Hong Kong is a special legislative area, the city has a relatively higher freedom of speech compared to the rest of the country, and more recently, there have been demands for a higher level of democracy in Hong Kong - which, needless to say, is against the wishes of the Chinese government. With it’s track record, it’s not a stretch to think that once this plan is in place, any Hong Kong protesters who speak up against the Chinese government would be quietly detained and put under arrest in the Mainland.

This plan not only compromises Hong Kong’s autonomy, but is also an attempt from the Mainland to assimilate Hong Kong with the rest of the country, which is goes against the Hong Kong Basic Law, the “One Country, Two Systems” constitutional principle agreed on to keep Hong Kong a democracy, even violating human rights such as the Freedom of Speech, Expression, The Right to Public Assembly, etc.

This is just the SparkNotes version of the full state of events, but I didn’t want this this post to get any longer ^^; I’ll link some resources in the reblogs later

[image description: a photo of the aforementioned protest at night, with thousands of people marching on the roads of Admiralty district in Hong Kong]

HOW YOU CAN HELP

The protest is mostly over, but you can still help by signing this online petition calling for the White House to review the plan:

I know this isn’t an optimal solution, and I’ll reblog with others when they arise, but for now, please sign this petition. Though Hong Kong isn’t a country - it’s a special legislative area - it’s still home to 7 million people. I almost never hear anyone talk about democracy issues about somewhere that isn’t the USA on this hellsite, so dammit, I’m making this post myself, because we deserve to be heard.

PLEASE SIGN THIS PETITION, REBLOG AND SHARE TO HELP US MAKE OUR VOICES HEARD, THANK YOU

As of the 11th June, the protest did not have any impact on government ruling, and the voting on the Chinese extradition plan will commence without interruptions.

The originally peaceful protest on the 9th ended in violence in the early hours of the 10th June. Some protesters who refused to leave the rally after it had ended. At around midnight, hundreds of them, dashed towards the police lines, aiming to force their way into the legislature building. The protesters took over the metal barricades surrounding the building and used them to attack police trying to push them back,ending in a fight between the police force and the protesters. In the ensuing chaos, protesters hurled bottles at officers who responded with batons and pepper spray. Some protesters were wrestled to the ground and taken away. Footage shows at least one person from both sides bleeding.

For more information, please refer to the source here:

PSA: Again, it must be emphasized that the majority of the protest was peaceful, and many citizens, including the rally organizers, were shocked by the violence that happened in the aftermath. This blog does not condone the violence taken by these radiccal protesters who constantly provoked officers and tried to get other marchers to charge police lines, not does it approve of the measures taken by the police to counter it. Violence breeds violence, and it should never be taken as an option.

What now?

So far, the extradition proposal will be tabled at the full Legislative Council, a rare move that will allow the bill to bypass its usual committee-level deliberations. Fast-tracking the bill to the full council would mean that officials and lawmakers would have less time to examine the proposed legislation clause-by-clause, though some Beijing supporters argued that there will still be enough time for vetting.

Tomorrow (12/6/2019) will be a second reading of the proposal, and it will only need to pass the third reading before it becomes an offical law.

IN THEORY, the proposal will be debated for 5 days in the legislative council. Normally, a second reading can last anywhere from a few days to months. However, if the lawmakers have not come to a decision by the deadline, the Legislative Council Chairman, Andrew Leung, has degreed that it will be voted forward, and will enter the third reading if it gets half the votes of the attending council members.

The legislation is made up of 70 members, which means it will only need 35 votes to pass into the third reading. Not including the chairman, the pro-Beijing camp makes up around 42 members.

You come to your own conclusions whether it’s going to pass.

For now, there will be a sit-in next to the legislative council building, in hope that the government will take the voices of citizens into account, but there is not much hope. Hong Kong police are planning to flood the streets with 5,000 officers in response to calls for a second wave of protests outside the city’s legislature and administrative headquarters. Included is an elite squad that comprises of officers from the force’s counterterrorism division and airport security unit.

Will be reblogging with updates on the situation, as well as any additional information

TO HELP, PLEASE SIGN THE LIST OF PETITIONS PROVIDED BELOW, AND GET THE WORD OUT BY REBLOGGING OR POSTING THE LINKS OF THESE PETITIONS TO SOCIAL MEDIA

MAIN LOCAL PETITION ATM

OTHERS

(to be updated)

This article also provides links amd information on different local petitions

Complementary doodles to my last doll commissions http://slocotion.tumblr.com/post/180121249328