Hong Kong protests shift tactics as police make arrests

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HONG KONG — Tearing a page out of ancient Chinese military philosophy, protesters in Hong Kong changed tactics and popped up in small groups in multiple locations across the city Sunday rather than gather in one large demonstration, pursued by police who swooped in to make muscular arrests. The guerrilla-like tactics sought to maximize the disruption and visibility of protests at a time when anti-government demonstrations have, as a whole, been showing signs of flagging as they enter their fifth month. Pressure from a government ban on the face masks worn by many protesters and extreme violence earlier this month seem to have cooled the ardor of some demonstrators and whittled down protest numbers. Calls to protest posted online called for gatherings to start at 2 p.m. in dozens of locations, including parks, malls and sports grounds. That marked a shift from earlier more concentrated rallies in fewer spots. The notion of changing strategies to adapt to shifting circumstances and to maximize the effectiveness of one's resources is deeply engrained in Chinese thinking, notably detailed in the ancient military treatise "The Art of War," and inspiring Mao Zedong's Communist rebels on their route to seizing power in China in 1949. In Hong Kong, protesters speak of being "like water," fluid and adaptable.

"It's a guerilla-kind of demonstration," said Edmund Tang, 59, who slept overnight at a gathering of about 200 people outside police headquarters in central Hong Kong that started Saturday and was still going strong Sunday. He said the week-old ban that makes the wearing of masks at rallies punishable by one year in jail has dissuaded some demonstrators who took part in larger previous rallies.

"It's no longer possible to get 100,000 people to come out," he said. Protesting in small, diffuse groups will complicate policing efforts, he added.

"Keep the hunt dogs running everywhere, getting crazier and crazier, without catching the prey. That's best," he said.

But police adapted, too. Also fanned out in multiple locations, they quickly made numerous arrests. Police were on the scene within minutes after black-clad protesters set up a makeshift roadblock in a shopping district of Kowloon, sprinting out of their vans in hot pursuit of suspects.

Officers pinned a young man in black to the floor and then carried him away. A young woman wearing a face mask and seemingly limping was also led away.

Police also sprinted through a shopping mall in another location, riding escalators in pursuit of targets. One of the largest gatherings brought several hundred people together in a mall in Shatin that has attracted regular gatherings.

The protests gripping the semi-autonomous Chinese territory initially began in response to a now-withdrawn extradition bill that would have allowed criminal suspects to be sent for trial in Communist Party-controlled courts in mainland China. The protest movement has since ballooned to encompass broader clamors for universal suffrage, an independent inquiry of the policing methods used against protesters and other demands.

AP