Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

The persistence of millions of protesters, mostly young people, on the streets of Hong Kong forced the Chief Executive, Ms Carrie Lam, very reluctantly to back off, after first trying brutal repression involving rubber bullets that injured about 80 people. Ms Lam did so because the protesters did not give up, although she will still not resign after what she has done. Let us be clear. Carrie Lam is dancing to the tune of a brutal, authoritarian and undemocratic regime in China. It is interesting that this is occurring close to the 30th anniversary of the massacre in Tiananmen Square when the Chinese authorities butchered students and rolled over them with tanks. Since then, they have ruled with an iron fist, attacking civil rights activists and lawyers who defend people and their human rights. They have also been responsible for the persecution of about 13 million Turkic Muslims, the Uighurs, the people of Tibet and Kazakhs. They use vicious repression. The extradition Bill in Hong Kong was an attempt to go after and extradite many people who have fled to Hong Kong from China. What are we saying about China's ruthless authoritarianism?

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