News / China

Hong Kong police nab several people in demo against China traders

Sunday, 08 February 2015 6:29 PM [ Last Update: Sunday, 08 February 2015 6:29 PM ]

Hong Kong security forces clash with protesters in Tuen Mun, Hong Kong, February 8, 2015. (AFP photo)

Hong Kong security forces have arrested several people demonstrating against the increasing number of traders from mainland China.

On Sunday, over 100 people staged a demonstration inside a shopping mall in the town of Tuen Mun in the New Territories to protest against the rising number of parallel traders from China who have allegedly disrupted the normal daily life in the town.

Hong Kong police used pepper spray to disperse protesters and arrested a number of them when the demonstrators headed into the shopping malls.

"Police have used pepper spray and brought out batons inside a shopping mall, there are injured people that are being surrounded by police," said the protest organizer, Hong Kong Indigenous, on its Facebook page.

Parallel traders usually travel by train from mainland China to Hong Kong in a bid to stock up on different goods with a low price and no hefty tariffs.

Late last year, Hong Kong was the center of protests against an election law introduced by the Chinese government under which the people of Hong Kong will have to elect their next leader from a list of Beijing-vetted candidates in 2017.

In December, police in Hong Kong cleared the last of several protest sites in the city, ending over two months of demonstrations, which at a number of occasions turned violent.

Hong Kong is a special administrative region of China. The financial hub has enjoyed substantial political autonomy since 1997, when it returned to China after about a century of British colonial rule.

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