Beijing blasts United Nations for support of Hong Kong protesters

China has accused the UN of ­emboldening ‘radical violence’ in Hong Kong by suggesting police brutality should be investigated.

Older protesters join hands to form a human chain during a rally in Hong Kong on Saturday. Picture: AP

China has accused the UN of ­emboldening “radical violence” in Hong Kong by suggesting the city’s leader investigate reports of police brutality.

The UN high commissioner for human rights, Michelle Bachelet, wrote in an opinion piece in the South China Morning Post that Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam’s government must prioritise “meaningful, inclusive” talks to resolve the crisis.

She urged Ms Lam to hold an “independent and impartial judge-led investigation” into police conduct at protests.

Such a probe has been one of the key demands of pro-democracy demonstrations that have gripped the territory since June.

China’s UN mission in Geneva said Ms Bachelet’s article interfered in the internal affairs of China and exerted pressure on the city’s government and police, which “will only embolden the ­rioters to conduct more severe radical violence”.

It said Ms Bachelet made “inappropriate comments” on the situation in Hong Kong and the Chinese side had lodged a strong protest in response.

Since the unrest broke, protesters have disrupted traffic, smashed public facilities and pro-China shops, and hurled petrol bombs in pitched battles with riot police, who responded with volleys of teargas and water cannons.

The protesters are angry over creeping Chinese interference in Hong Kong they say is eroding the rights promised when the former British colony returned to Chinese rule in 1997.

The occupation of several universities by protesters in November after fiery clashes with police capped one of the most ­violent chapters in the turmoil, which has contributed to the city’s first ­recession in a decade.

Police have arrested 5890 ­people as a result of the protests.

At the weekend, hundreds of silver-haired activists joined young protesters for a unity rally, vowing their movement would not fade until there was greater democracy.

The rally at a park downtown was among several peaceful gatherings by protesters in the past few days to keep up pressure on the government after a local election victory by the pro-democracy bloc and the gaining of US support for their cause.

“The government is still stubborn. Every one of us, young and old, must contribute in our own way. The movement will not stop,” said a 63-year-old woman who identified herself as Mrs Tam.

Some protesters returned to the streets on Saturday night, using metal fences, cartons and bricks to block traffic in the Mong Kok area in Kowloon. A local boys’ band belted out songs to tell protesters “the whole Hong Kong is supporting you”. Speakers reminded the crowd it wasn’t time to celebrate and the fight for real autonomy must persist.

“The government wants us to desert the frontliners and young protesters, but we will stick with them,” rally organiser Tam Kwok-sun, 64, said to loud cheers from the crowd.

“Sometimes their actions are violent and aggressive, but we are more unhappy with the government’s behaviour.”

Ms Lam, has appealed for the current calm to continue but has refused to bow to protesters’ ­demands, which include free elections for her post and the legislature as well as an independent probe into alleged police brutality.

“It’s still a very early stage of the revolution,” a masked activist, who gave her name as Mai, 26, said.

“People are tired physically and mentally; we are waiting for the right moment for a fightback.”

AP