China's military warns Hong Kong protesters with slick video - Saudi Gazette
China's military warns Hong Kong protesters with slick video
HONG KONG — China's military has released a slick propaganda video showing a drill of armed troops quelling a protest in Hong Kong, as its commander for the city voiced determination to maintain law and order following two months of pro-democracy rallies. The double-barrel signals on Wednesday were the strongest public interventions from China's armed forces into the crisis, which has seen masses of people take to the global financial hub's streets to demand more freedoms.
The video, posted online by the People's Liberation Army's (PLA's) garrison in Hong Kong, shows tanks, helicopters, rocket launchers and heavily armed troops in action across various locations of the semi-autonomous Chinese city. The three-minute clip also specifically features an "anti-riot" drill in which soldiers with assault rifles, armored personnel carriers and water cannons disperse a crowd of protesters in Hong Kong.
"All consequences are at your own risk," a soldier yells into a loudspeaker at the start of the drill in Cantonese, the language spoken in Hong Kong rather than the Mandarin of mainland China. PLA troops are then seen wearing helmets, carrying long shields, marching with batons, laying out barbed-wire barricades and pointing the rifles. An officer is also filmed holding a red flag that reads: "Warning, stop charging or we use force". The flag has the same words as ones that Hong Kong's police have used when confronting the pro-democracy protesters.
The drill ends with armed troops escorting protesters, who have their arms tied behind their backs, to areas designated by banners as "detention points"......