Hong Kong-based GMA News stringer Azon Cañete told “Balitanghali” there were at least four or five incidents of verbal confrontations between “anti-protesters” and student protesters.
“Magulo ang nangyayari ngayon, nagsisigawan, nag-aawayan, muntikan nang magsalpukan…” Cañete said.
“Kapansin-pansing walang pulis, supposedly apat o limang commotion ang nangyari dito, pero wala kaming natatanaw ni isang pulis [na namagitan],” she said. “Sabi ng protesters dito, mula umaga, walang silang nakikitang pulis.”
Earlier, the police announced they had arrested 19 men – including some people believed to have ties with the city’s organized crime gangs – over clashes during the ongoing pro-democracy protests. In those clashes several emonstrators injured and bloodied.
But policemen have not been seen in the area since then, Cañete said.
‘Patient’ protesters
Meanwhile, Cañete said that despite being provoked by anti-protesters, the protesters remained “calm.”
“Ang mga protester, ang haba ng pasensya… Nasa mukha na nila ang mga kamay ng panduduro ng anti-protesters, pero kalmado lang sila…”
“‘Yung bystanders, sila ung nagagalit kasi dinuduro ang mga estudyante. Inaawat na rin ng protesters ang bystanders na huwag awayin ang mga nanduduro, sinasabihang huwag magalit,” she added.
Also, Cañete said protesters suspect the anti-protesters may have been paid by the government to disrupt the otherwise peaceful assembly.
“Isang grupo na bayaran na para sila ay guluhin… iyon ang tingin ng [ilang] protesters…” she said, noting that the people who started the confrontations on Saturday were the same people who the police claimed they arrested the night before.
Pro-democracy protests erupted in Hong Kong over the past days after China announced that it will only allow Beijing-approved candidates to participate in the city’s elections in 2017. — Amanda Fernandez /LBG, GMA News
