By Reuters
HONG KONG - Thousands of Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters were on the march under a sweltering sun on Saturday after pro-China groups pulled down some of the "Lennon Walls" of anti-government protest messages in the Chinese-ruled city.
Riot police stand guard as anti-government protesters gather in Tuen Mun, Hong Kong, China September 21, 2019. (REUTERS/Jorge Silva / MANILA BULLETIN)
Police warned they would fire tear gas on the marchers heading for the government offices of Tuen Mun town, in the west of the New Territories, where some set fire to a Chinese flag on the ground.
Earlier, dozens of Beijing supporters tore down some of the large mosaics of colorful Post-it notes calling for democracy and denouncing perceived Chinese meddling in the former British colony which returned to Chinese rule in 1997.
"I am a Chinese man," one the pro-Beijing protesters shouted in defense of his actions when confronted by pro-democracy supporters.
The walls have blossomed across the Asian financial center, at bus stops and shopping centers, under footbridges and along pedestrian walkways.
They have also occasionally become hot spots of violence in more than three months of unrest.
The transit operator, MTR Corp, closed train stations near potential protest sites, including Tuen Mun.
Hong Kong's protests picked up in June over legislation, now withdrawn, that would have allowed people to be sent to mainland China for trial. Demands have since broadened into calls for universal suffrage.
A pro-Beijing city legislator, Junius Ho, who has been a vocal critic of the protests, had urged his supporters to clean up approximately 100 Lennon Walls around the city on Saturday.
But in a message posted late on Friday on his Facebook page, Ho said "for the sake of safety" the Lennon Walls would not be cleared up, only the streets.
'Rising again'
Steve Chiu, who works in finance, said people like Ho would only give the pro-democracy movement fresh impetus.
“Through provocative acts like this, he helps unify the moderates and frontliners in the movement," he told Reuters.
"It's like a wave. Sometimes we’re in a trough and sometimes on a crest, and we’re rising again.”
The walls are named after the John Lennon Wall in communist-controlled Prague in the 1980s that was covered with Beatles lyrics and messages of political grievance.
The anti-government protesters are angry about what they see as creeping interference by Beijing in Hong Kong, which returned to China under a "one country, two systems" formula that ensures freedoms not enjoyed on the mainland.
China says it is committed to the "one country, two systems" arrangement and denies meddling. It has accused foreign governments including the United States and Britain, of inciting the unrest.