Please feel free to share your articles and stories in the comments.
Reuters
Hong Kong democracy protesters defied volleys of tear gas and police baton charges to stand firm in the centre of the global financial hub on Monday, one of the biggest political challenges for China since the Tiananmen Square crackdown 25 years ago.The Communist government in Beijing made clear it would not tolerate dissent, and warned against any foreign interference as thousands of protesters massed for a fourth night in the free-wheeling, capitalist city of more than 7 million people.
"Hong Kong is China's Hong Kong," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying defiantly told a news briefing in Beijing.
DW
Hong Kong remains paralyzed as tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets in protest. With Britain now weighing in, China is keeping a close eye on the swelling democracy movement.With tens of thousands in the streets of Hong Kong on Monday, blocking major intersections and prompting authorities to "withdraw" riot police, China has officially voiced its opposition to the situation in the semiautonomous region.
Foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said Beijing "vehemently objected to illegal actions that undermine the rule of law and social security," adding that any international intervention in China's matters was also unacceptable.
Those statements came just before Britain, which controlled Hong Kong until 1997, voiced concern with regard to the "escalating protests," calling for "constructive talks" that it hoped would eventually lead to a "meaningful advance for democracy."
The Guardian
Thousands of protesters remained defiantly in downtown Hong Kong on Monday night after days of confrontations with police that observers fear could spark wider violence. The Guardian’s Tania Branigan in Hong Kong and Jonathan Kaiman in Beijing have been reporting on the standoff since large protests began Friday. Here’s a quick summary of what’s happening:What’s the latest?
Police equipped with riot gear visibly withdrew from protests on Monday after the use of teargas and pepper-spray on demonstrators on Sunday (video) drew widespread condemnation, as well as thousands of additional demonstrators into the streets. Late on Monday, an elevated road in downtown Hong Kong west of Admiralty remained packed with protesters (Hong Kong is eight hours ahead of GMT, 12 hours ahead of US eastern time,) and reporters at the scene around midnight said more were arriving.
What do the protesters want?
Electoral freedom is the main demand. This is a perennial concern in Hong Kong, and it has again come to a head after China announced that Beijing would vet candidates to run in the 2017 elections, thus regulating the race to be Hong Kong chief executive. Protesters see the new rules as a sign that China may be seeking to erode the “one country, two systems” rubric in place in Hong Kong since 1997, when it reverted from British to Chinese control.
Al Jazeera America
Hong Kong police defended their use of tear gas but softened their tactics Monday after forceful attempts to quell pro-democracy protests drew tens of thousands more people into the streets in an unprecedented show of civil disobedience in one of the world's major financial centers.Instead of candlelight, a few hundred people staged a brief "mobile light" vigil Monday night, waving their glowing cell phones as the protests stretched into their fourth day. Crowds chanted calls for the city's unpopular leader, Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying, to resign, and sang anthems calling for freedom.
The protesters are demanding free and open elections after rejecting Beijing's decision last month to rule out open nominations for candidates under proposed guidelines for the first-ever elections for Hong Kong's leader, promised for 2017.
Earlier on Monday, pro-democracy protesters wearing masks and wielding umbrellas to protect against pepper spray and tear gas erected barricades to block security forces and expanded their reach in the territory.
NPR
As throngs of pro-democracy protesters continue to organize in Hong Kong's central business district, many of them are messaging one another through a network that doesn't require cell towers or Wi-Fi nodes. They're using an app called FireChat that launched in March and is underpinned by mesh networking, which lets phones unite to form a temporary Internet.So far, mesh networks have proven themselves quite effective and quickly adopted during times of disaster or political unrest, as they don't rely on existing cable and wireless networks. In Iraq, tens of thousands of people have downloaded FireChat as the government limits connectivity in an effort to curb ISIS communications. Protesters in Taiwan this spring turned to FireChat when cell signals were too weak and at times nonexistent.
And FireChat's popularity is surging in Hong Kong. About 100,000 users downloaded the free FireChat app between Sunday morning and Monday morning, according to The Wall Street Journal.
