Hong Kong has been gripped in violence since the past few months having a major impact on the transport system in the special administrative region. The protest which started as a peaceful demonstration turned into violent protests against the government after allegations of police brutality surfaced.
The protests were against the move of the government to roll out an extradition bill which was seen as a move which could put the city of Hong Kong under direct Chinese control. Hong Kong was handed over to China in 1997 after the lease of the United Kingdom was over.
Hong Kong’s Mass Transit Railway (MTR) has been hit worse by the protests. Many of the stations have been vandalised by the protests recently. On Saturday, the MTR authorities decided to suspend its services after violent protests erupted late on Friday.
According to a report in Reuters, the MTR Corp said in a statement the ” As we are no longer in a position to provide safe and reliable service to passengers in the circumstances, the corporation had no choice but to make the decision to suspend the service of its entire network.”11
Carrie Lam, the city’s Chief Executive had invoked an emergency law banning face masks which the protesters use to conceal their identities. The law took effect on Saturday, which has been met with violent outbursts of the protesters who took to the street damaging critical infrastructure in the city as well as hurling Molotov Cocktails at the police.
Protesters have asked the government to fulfil their demands out of which only one of the demand has been met. The government had withdrawn the bill earlier last month but has been critical of the other four demands made by the protesters. The four demands are the resignation of the Chief Executive, an inquiry into the alleged police brutality, the release of the protesters who had been arrested and the reclassification of the protests which the government has called as riots.
(Inputs from agencies)