|
Police Clash With Protesters During New Year Celebration in Hong Kong
By Christine Khamis
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia
Police clashed with protesters in the Mong Kok district in Hong Kong on February 9 during a celebration of the Lunar New Year. The confrontation occurred after police attempted to shut down unlicensed food vendors serving traditional New Year delicacies.
People had gathered in Mong Kok, a shopping and residential district, to celebrate the first day of the Chinese Lunar New Year. Police came in to remove the unlicensed vendors, who have generally been left alone by authorities in years past.
Around 100 protesters threw glass bottles, bricks, and other objects at the police as the confrontation intensified. They also set fires in the streets. Police used batons and pepper spray to break up the crowds of protesters. They then fired two warning shots, an act which is very rare in Hong Kong. The Hong Kong police department later issued a statement saying that protesters had ignored police warnings to disperse from the streets and had begun to shove officers.
As many as 90 police officers were injured during the clash, although reported numbers vary. Four journalists also sustained injuries. 54 people were arrested for charges of assaulting police and resisting arrest, among other crimes.
Hong Kong’s government has condemned the protest. Hong Kong’s Chief Executive, Leung Chun-ying has stated that police are under strict rules regarding the use of force and that they had taken the necessary precautions during the Mong Kok protest. Mr. Leung has also stated that those arrested during the protest will be prosecuted.
Hong Kong Police Commissioner Lo Wai-Chung told the news media that authorities were considering charging the protesters with “taking part in a riot”. The charge was last used in 1967 against those participating in riots supporting China’s Cultural Revolution.
The Mong Kok protest is the most violent protest to occur in Hong Kong since 2014. It is also only one of several protests that has occurred in Hong Kong in recent years. The protests have occurred as Hong Kong citizens grow increasingly concerned about China’s assertions of control over their city and civil liberties.
The protests have contributed to the development of a “localist” movement, which calls for Hong Kong’s total independence from China. Participants of the localist movement protest acts that they view as encroaching on Hong Kong’s culture.
For more information, please see:
The Hong Kong Standard – Mong Kok Clashes Mar Start to New Year – 10 February 2016
CNN – Hong Kong Police Fire Warning Shots During Mong Kok Fishball ‘Riot’ – 9 February 2016
Time – Hong Kong Sees Violent Start to Chinese New Year as Protesters Clash With Police – 9 February 2016
The New York Times – Protesters and Police Clash at Lunar New Year Festivities in Hong Kong – 8 February 2016
SOR Cultural Heritage Initiatives Weekly Report 71–72 (December 9, 2015 – December 22, 2015)
Press Release: Sergei Magnitsky’s Mother Slams Russian Foreign Ministry’s Comments About New US Magnitsky List
11 February 2016 – Natalia Magnitskaya, the mother of Sergei Magnitsky, released a statement today responding to the Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry’s recent commentary that the expansion of the Magnitsky list was an effort to “discredit” Russia.
Natalia Magnitskaya asked the Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry to publish her statement on its website.
“Each of the officials [included in the list of Magnitsky] has been involved in malfeasance, acting with impunity guaranteed by beneficiaries of the 5.4 billion rubles ($230 mln) theft, and is rightly included in the sanctions list,” said Natalia Magnitskaya.
“Our country is discredited not by the existence of this list, but by officials who worked towards corrupt goals instead of performing their duties to safeguard and protect our country and its citizens,” said Natalia Magnitskaya.
“I take as an insult the recent comment [from the Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry] that the tragic fate of my son was a ‘bargaining chip’ in the ‘unscrupulous Washington’s campaign to discredit our country.’ For my son, such concepts as ‘honesty’, ‘honor’, ‘patriotism’ and ‘duty’ were not empty words, but his life’s principles”, said Ms Magnitskaya.
“The [Russian] investigators and prosecutors tasked to investigate my son’s death and the embezzlement of budget funds deliberately destroyed evidence, sabotaged the investigation, advanced knowingly false theories and ended up with accusing my son after his death of organizing the theft of 5.4 billion rubles – the crime for the exposure of which he suffered martyrdom and death,” said Ms Magnitskaya.
“With bitter regret I note that the Magnitsky Law and the Magnitsky Sanctions List, which the Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry’s Information Department called ‘notorious,’ today are the only means to tell the public about the abuses committed by some officials in the law enforcement and judicial authorities,” said Ms Magnitskaya.
Earlier this month, the US State Department announced the addition of four Russian Interior Ministry officials for their role in the posthumous persecution of Sergei Magnitsky to the visa and financial sanctions list under the “Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act of 2012.”
For more information, please contact:?
Justice for Sergei Magnitsky Campaign
e-mail: info@lawandorderinrussia.org
Twitter: @KatieFisher__
www.facebook.com/russianuntouchables
New Entries in the Magnitsky List, February 2016
https://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/sanctions/OFAC-Enforcement/Pages/20160201.aspx
Mass Graves Found in Burundi?
By Tyler Campbell
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa
BUJUMBURA, Burundi – Human Rights group Amnesty International has released Satellite photos of suspected mass burial sites inside Burundi. There are five separate areas outside the capitol of Burundi, which seem to indicate mass burial. This report is corroborated by eyewitness stories and a UN investigation into 9 mass burial sites. These sites are linked to the violence that occurred when President Pierre Nkurunziza announced he would be running for a third term.
Back in April 2015 President Nkurunziza made his announcement and it lead to violence in the nations capitol. The UN has reported that since his announcement at least 400 people have died and 240,000 people have fled the country.
The images of the reported mass grave sites are linked to new violence that occurred in early December. Government authorities, mostly police, carried out attacks on civilians on December 11th, in response to an attack on a military base in Bujumbura. These attacks have been focused on areas and villages believed to be in opposition to the reelection of the president.
The UN is worried that these mass graves are just the beginning of trends of other human rights violations. Along with the mass graves there have been reports of sexual violence, torture, and increased disappearances. The UN believes 87 people were killed last month bringing the total to above 400 since the April announcement. Although, the UN admits the actual number may be much higher.
In response to the allegations from the UN and Amnesty International, Burundi’s foreign minister called it “mudslinging against the authorities in Bujumbura.” The minister also asked that organizations wait to see result of an investigation that had been ordered by the attorney general. Organizations and governments alike are worried that the violence could devolve back into the civil war that rocked the country from 1993 through 2003. It is believed nearly 300,000 people died during that war.
For more information, please see:
CNN – U.N. rights chief calls for investigation of rapes, mass graves in Burundi – 15 Jan. 2016
BBC – Burundi crisis: Amnesty claims evidence of ‘mass graves’ – 29 Jan. 2016
France 24 – Amnesty says dozens buried in Burundi mass graves – 30 Jan. 2016
The Herald – Burundi mass graves “a lie” – 6 Feb. 2016