Battle of song leads to cacophony at IFC mall

Battle of song leads to cacophony at IFC mall

People against the now-withdrawn extradition bill shout slogans like 'Five demands, not one less'. Photo: RTHK

Chaos erupted at an upscale shopping mall in Central on Thursday afternoon as pro-Beijing groups and opponents of the extradition bill took each other on with songs, slogans and heated argument.



The unexpected events at the IFC mall started with a battle of songs during the lunch hour after a group of people who support Beijing arrived with national flags and started belting out the national anthem.



This comes as many malls across Hong Kong have been witnessing large numbers of people taking part in mass singings of a new song, "Glory to Hong Kong", which was written for the protest movement and has fast become the protesters' anthem.



The pro-Beijing group, which had been organised through social media, arrived at the IFC mall at around 1pm, and started singing and shouting slogans like "China, add oil", mimicking a popular chant of extradition bill protesters.



As news of the action started spreading and footage began appearing on social media, opponents of the now-withdrawn extradition bill started gathering inside the mall, outnumbering those singing patriotic songs.



They soon started singing the protesters' anthem and drowning out their rivals.



As the tones rose, so did tempers in some places, as heated arguments broke out.



Many shops were shuttered as scuffles broke out between the two groups. Some people with national flags abused anti-extradition bill protesters, calling them “cockroaches” and “rubbish”.



Andrew Fung, the information coordinator of former Chief Executive CY Leung, also got into an argument with some people at the scene.