#FaceMask #HKMedics
Li Ka Shing Foundation ordered N95 filter masks for medical staff in Hong Kong.

Since the Hong Kong government has been incapable of proscuring masks for the population, the problem of mask shortage persisted in Hong Kong.

From political groups, NGO, restaurants to individuals, those who managed to source masks distributed masks, sometimes, for free and sometimes, at a cost.

While the borders with China remain open, the demand for masks would continue in Hong Kong.

Source: https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=142437067240312&id=101928361291183
#Feb19

Money speaks louder than humanity:
World Photography Awards remove Hong Kong protest images raise speculations about self-censorship

Hong Kong artist Chung-Ming Ko entered finalist round of 2020 Sony World Photography Awards with his works “Wounds of Hong Kong.” However, on #Feb14, he found the link to his collection was broken, who went on and discovered two more series “Battleground Hong Kong” by American photographer David Butow and “Hong Kong Protestors” by Australian artist Adam Ferguson were disappeared. The WPO defended the decision, in an initial reply to inquiries, by saying they were taken down temporarily over the “sensitive nature” of his images.

The edited series was uploaded, with only four left out of the original series of 10 pictures. Ko bewailed the decision by the judges. “I don’t know who’s complaining and what their concerns are. But why should any ‘concerns’ not be addressed by the judges at the judging phase?” asked Ko in a response to Hong Kong Free Press. Nevertheless, he still hoped to share his photos in Hong Kong (now numbered at 20). “If WPO couldn’t release these Hong Kong protest-related photos for now, I hoped to share it here,” he said on his Facebook Page.

Link to Ko’s works “Wounds of Hong Kong”:
https://bit.ly/39NsHbL

Only 5 pictures remained in another series “Battleground Hong Kong” by David Butow:
https://bit.ly/2SW4v06

No pictures were deleted in Adam Ferguson’s “Hong Kong Protestors”.
https://bit.ly/2SVJwud

Ironically, photojournalist Mustafa Hassona won 3rd place in last year’s WPO by “Palestinian Right of Return Protests”, which captured moments in the Palestinian movement.
https://bit.ly/2HCLhr5

Meanwhile, Title Sponsor of WPO Sony Corporation, hardly-battered over accusations of self-censorship, issued a statement that affirms that although Sony is the title sponsor, the contest was operated by the WPO independently.

WPO team
https://www.worldphoto.org/meet-the-team

Source: USP, HKFP #Feb19 #SelfCensorship

#FirstHand #Feb19
HK Authorities Prosecute 12 People for Riotting in #PolyUSiege; Police Ticket and Arrest Pro-democracy Supporters

On Feb 19, 2021, the Hong Kong police arrested 12 people at midnight. The police accused them of "rioting" for their reported presence in the campus of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (#PolyU) during the police siege of the university in November 2019.

More than one year after, the 12 Hongkongers were the first ones to be prosecuted among the 200 arrests made in PolyU. They were mentioned in the Kowloon City Magistrates on the late afternoon of the same day. The court refused to grant bail for 11 of them, apart from one being a voluntary first aider. The group will be detained until the next hearing in March 2021.

At round 21:30, 22 citizens (7 men and 15 women) in support of the pro-democracy movement showed support for the arrestees outside of the court. The police ticketed and fined all of them for the violatiok of the 599G gathering ban. Among the supporters, the police arrested a man in his twenties, for finding an 'Octopus' travel card with a name different than his.

See photos:
https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/28679

The young man was taken away in the police car with the license number AM7057.

#PoliceState #Court #MassArrest #FirstAider #Rioting #599G #OctopusCard

#Court #PoliceState
Hong Kong #ESports player acquitted from "conspiring to riot" worries the Authorities might lodge an appeal

Source: Apple News #Feb19

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#Court #PoliceState
Hong Kong #ESports player acquitted from "conspiring to riot" worries the Authorities might lodge an appeal

Six Hongkongers were charged with "conspiring to riot" regarding a clash on Oct 1, 2019, which was the PRC's National Day.

On Feb 19, 2021, after more than one year since the accusation was made, all six accused were acquitted in court.

Outside the court, e-sports player Cheung Ho Fai, as one of the six accused, said he felt stressed and negative as the verdict was not announced until the lunar new year, and he only anticipated a fifty-fifty chance of winning.

Even though they were now acquitted, Cheung was still worried that the Department of Justice (#DoJ) might file an appeal.

He also wished that he could suffer the stress for his girlfriend, who was also one of the accused, and believed every boyfriend would have thought the same.

As Cheung stepped out of the court, friends congratulated him and some said “Way to go!” “Now go back to E sports and win a champion!”

Before answering the reporters’ questions, Cheung wiped away the sweat on his face and forehead and said “I’m exhausted! It was so stressful!”.

Cheung initially expected to hear the verdict in about a week or a month since the trial was concluded back in December 2020. It turned out that the verdict was not announced until after the lunar new year. He said he wished the case could have ended earlier “It was such a long wait, it wore me down”.

One of the accused in this case was his girlfriend, So Mei Lei. Cheung said, the Anti-ELAB movement began soon after they met. “We got arrested about two, three months after we started dating”, therefore they did not have any future plans, “the only plan was to get ready for the trials”.

Source: Apple News #Feb19

https://hk.appledaily.com/local/20210219/WYCOLN4KSZHIVHKRFBHUPH3VFA/

#Acquitted #HongKongProtests #AntiElab #RiottingCharges #PoliticalPersecution

#Game #BruceLee
#StreetFighterII in #NintendoSwitch replaces the flag of Hong Kong game character with China's Emblem

Source: Stand News #Feb19

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#Game #BruceLee
#StreetFighterII in #NintendoSwitch replaces the flag of Hong Kong game character with China's Emblem

#Capcom has recently released a video game Capcom Arcade Stadium in #NintendoSwitch, which contains 32 classic games such as Street Fighter II: Turbo.

A Japanese user recently noticed that the flag of a Hong Kong game character, Fei Long, was changed to the flag of the People's Republic of China and shared the photo on Twitter.

The photo has caused some heated debates, and some criticised that the company's political correctness has gone too far.

"Fei Long" was a game character in Street Fighter II in reference to Bruce Lee. In the game, although his representing country was shown as Hong Kong, the national flag beside it was the flag of China.

Some users pointed out that it was not the first time Capcom has replaced Hong Kong’s flag in its games. Since 2018, Fei Long’s representing country flag in Street Fighter II in arcade game version has been replaced from the British Hong Kong flag (Dragon and Lion flag) to the regional flag of Hong Kong in order to “follow the trend”.

Source: Stand News #Feb19
https://www.thestandnews.com/culture/switch-%E7%89%88-%E8%A1%97%E9%9C%B82-%E9%A6%99%E6%B8%AF%E9%81%B8%E6%89%8B%E8%A2%AB%E6%94%B9%E9%85%8D%E4%BA%94%E6%98%9F%E6%97%97/

#NationalFlag

Germany is supplying Uighur ‘gulag’ in Xinjiang

German companies are supplying the technical backbone for the vast textile industry in the Chinese province of Xinjiang, where at least half a million members of the persecuted Uighur minority have allegedly been forced to labour in the cotton fields.

Leaked trade figures from the Chinese customs authority underline the extent of Germany’s commercial entanglement in the region despite numerous claims of human rights abuses and “cultural genocide”.

Source: Times #Feb19

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/germany-is-supplying-uighur-gulag-in-xinjiang-n3lqv7vmc

#Germany #Uighur #Xinjiang #HumanRights