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Key US Lawmaker Warns China on Treatment of Hong Kong Protesters

Ken Bredemeier

   WASHINGTON - A key U.S. lawmaker is warning China against harsh
   reprisals on pro-democracy protestors in Hong Kong, thousands of whom
   occupied the territory's international airport on Monday, forcing the
   cancellation of all flights.

   "The people of Hong Kong are bravely standing up to the Chinese
   Communist Party as Beijing tries to encroach on their autonomy and
   freedom, " Senate Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on
   Twitter. "Any violent crackdown would be completely unacceptable."

   "As I have said on the Senate floor: The world is watching," McConnell
   said.

     The people of Hong Kong are bravely standing up to the Chinese
     Communist Party as Beijing tries to encroach on their autonomy and
     freedom. Any violent crackdown would be completely unacceptable. As
     I have said on the Senate floor: The world is watching.
     [1]https://t.co/5VPm5P4PfB
     -- Leader McConnell (@senatemajldr) [2]August 12, 2019

   There was no violence reported at the airport, one of the world's
   busiest, but dozens of injuries were reported on Hong Kong's streets,
   where angry protesters blocked roads and refused police orders to
   disperse after riot officers fired tear gas and non-lethal ammunition
   at fleeing crowds.

   China on Monday termed the protests "terrorism."

   McConnell, a political ally of President Donald Trump, has taken a
   stronger public stance against the treatment of the demonstrators in
   Hong Kong, a Chinese territory, than the U.S. leader.

   Last month, in a speech to the Senate, McConnell attacked China's
   treatment of the Hong Kong demonstrators, saying, "Increasingly brutal
   police tactics and pro-Mainland vigilantes are drawing blood in an
   effort to intimidate Hong Kongers back into submission."

References

   1. https://t.co/5VPm5P4PfB
   2. https://twitter.com/senatemajldr/status/1160915602040602624?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

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