Sunday’s mass protests in Hong Kong featured a remarkable collection of foreign flags, as activists presumably thought the US and the UK may not be the only world powers that can back them in their raging fight against Beijing.

The anti-government protests in the autonomous Chinese city –once ruled by Britain– went along the usual lines of the past months. Some of the marches went peacefully while, in some spots, more aggressive activists caused disruption with street barricades, Molotov cocktails and acts of vandalism.

Hong Kong police responded with tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannon spraying hard-to-wash-off blue paint, and arrested many of the protesters.

Radical participants managed to force a shutdown of two light railway stations in the Causeway Bay, Wan Chai and Admiralty districts in the north of the Hong Kong Island. Some action was reported at the Festival Walk mall, where protesters vandalized a restaurant run by Maxim’s Caterers, a large business that the protesters accuse of being pro-Beijing.

Protesters throw petrol bombs into Wan Chai MTR stationVideo: SCMP/Sarah Zheng pic.twitter.com/oSYEhOBk3D — SCMP Hong Kong (@SCMPHongKong) September 29, 2019

The protest movement also seems to be getting more optimistic in terms of its international support. Previously, they’d directed their appeals for support in their fight against Beijing to the United States and the United Kingdom, carrying their national flags and singing their patriotic anthems. But this Sunday they added at least a dozen more countries, in an apparent attempt to get these on board as well.

#meanwhileinHongKong The flags have arrived and we thank you all for standing with HongKong #glorytoHongKongpic.twitter.com/Q7lx8YWS1i — KesaKesa (@kesakesa9) September 29, 2019

They included fellow former British colonies Australia and India, leading EU members like Germany, Spain and Poland, and hopeful member Ukraine – as well as some nations not particularly known for their international clout, like Papua New Guinea and East Timor. UN flags were also displayed at the march.

The Chinese flag seen at the rallies had their stars rearranged to form a swastika, to show protesters’ disdain for the central government, which the protesters brand as “Chinazi”.

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