As the Hong Kong protests escalate in scope and China toys with the idea of retaliation, the true meaning of the protests becomes clearer.

‘They’re prepared to die’: What the Hong Kong protests are really about

Authorities are investigating after fake Chinese police cars were seen cropping up in major Australian cities amid pro-Hong Kong demonstrations across the nation over the weekend.

Police in South Australia and Western Australia have in recent days confirmed reported sightings the cars, which have a Chinese Police logo and the word “police” written in Mandarin.

It’s been suggested the vehicles, similar to the police cars stationed in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, are an attempt to intimidate local pro-democracy protesters.

The presence of the vehicles has sparked alarm on social media:

Nothing to see here, just *checks notes* a fake Chinese police car being spotted in Australia. Absolutely no problem with Chinese influence in Aus being swept under the carpet whatsoever, nope.https://t.co/91QC2W16qy pic.twitter.com/D3KJj9PaMv — Jack Hazlewood (@JackHHazlewood) August 18, 2019

Media is a joke. The 'fake Chinese police car' in Adelaide is not fake. Absurdly, they expect us to believe it. The Chinese government is here, its police are here, monitoring unrest. Australia's sovereignty, law & order, has become a farce. What is it we are about anymore anyway — Jamie 🇦🇺 (@AussiePI) August 18, 2019

But Western Australia Police also noted that, while it is illegal to replicate the appearance of an Australian police vehicle, there is no law against decorating a car with another country’s police car design.

Greens MP Tammy Franks said the laws needed to be tightened to prevent people from impersonating foreign policy in Australia.

“It appears that our laws anticipate perhaps somebody impersonating an Australian police car but certainly not a Chinese cop car on the streets of Adelaide,” she told the ABC, adding she would introduce a private member’s bill to “ensure impersonating police forces is illegal in South Australia and send a clear and strong message that we stand for peaceful protest and democracy”.

It came as hundreds of pro-democracy activists gathered in cities around Australia in support of the Hong Kong demonstrators.

Roughly 500 protesters in Sydney on Sunday — many of whom covered their faces — carried signs calling for democracy and freedom and an end to alleged police brutality in Hong Kong.

The rally remained peaceful after several scuffles previously broke out between pro-Hong Kong and pro-Beijing groups in Melbourne and Sydney.

In Adelaide’s Rundle Mall on Sunday, about 100 pro-democracy activists were met with a handful of vocal pro-China supporters.

The Hong Kong people have been protesting for nearly three consecutive months.

The demonstrations started as a protest against a proposed extradition bill that would send criminal suspects to China but have since become more widely about opposition to the mainland’s growing political influence overall.

When Hong Kong was handed over from Britain to China in 1997, it was agreed the territory would be allowed to maintain its unique freedoms and civil liberties for the next 50 years — a deal the protesters believe has not been honoured by Beijing.

The protesters believe China has gradually been whittling away their liberties since the handover, including by suppressing the “Umbrella Movement” in 2014 and by kidnapping five Hong Kong booksellers.

With the ongoing protests, they are now pushing for the right to directly elect their own government, for an independent commission to investigate police brutality, and they want the territory’s leader, Carrie Lam — who was hand-picked by the Chinese Government — to resign.

— with AP