Now on bbc news, its time for dateline london. Hello and welcome to dateline london. Im carrie gracie. This week Desperate Measures in hong kong, will they work . And brexits man with a plan embarks on a brussels endgame. My guests today Isabel Hilton of china dialogue, iain martin of the london times, greg katz of the associated press, thomas kielinger, author and veteran correspondent of die welt. Thank you all forjoining me. A tale of two chinas. Controlled choreography in beijing, chaos in hong kong. Far from celebrating the 70th anniversary of the communist revolution, democracy protesters called it a day of mourning. Vandalisation escalated, and two protestors were hit with live ammunition. The government then closed the rail network and banned face masks. Events in hong kong simply do not fit beijing . S birthday narrative of a nation united and on the march. You have been watching china and hong kong for half a century. Tell us what is going on now. Is carrie lam is going to so
Definitely riots. There were fires set out to be underground, banks we re set out to be underground, banks were attacked, individuals were attacked with petrol bombs. This is attacked with petrol bombs. This is a hong kong that is really on the edge of something very, very serious. But if you look back at how we got here, at each that there has been a reaction to severe measures by the authorities and it really is at this point something really unpleasant is going to happen, to dial down on bedside and tried to rebuild trust. There has been a com plete rebuild trust. There has been a complete breakdown of trust in hong kong with the Hong Kong Government and the hong kong police. And this was a place where essentially people trusted their institutions. It has been the basis of what was a very peaceful and prosperous place. At every point she has shown herself, she has got cloth ears. She does too little too late. She has finally initiated a kind of dialogue process thatis initiated a ki
In violent Anti Government protests. Demonstrators defied a ban on face masks dring the unrest. Chief executive carrie lam has defended her decision to invoke Emergency Powers. The us secretary of state mike pompeo has dismissed questions about Donald Trumps attempts to push ukraine and china to investigate democratic rival joe biden as a silly gotcha game. Leading democrats have issued a legal order demanding the white house hand over more documents on its dealings with ukraine. The British Foreign secretary has urged america to reconsider its decision to let a diplomats wife who was involved in a fatal car crash claim diplomatic immunity to leave britain. 19 year old harry dunn died in the collision in august. Now on bbc news, its dateline london. Hello and welcome to dateline london. Im carrie gracie. This week Desperate Measures in hong kong, will they work . And brexits man with a plan embarks on a brussels endgame. My guests today Isabel Hilton of chinadialogue, iain martin of th
Tell us what is going on now. Is carrie lam is going to sort this out . I dont think this is going to be sorted. You know, the face mask ban which precipitated last nights riots, which were by far the most serious that we have seen, and i think, you know, they were definitely riots. There were fires set on the underground, banks were attacked, individuals were attacked with petrol bombs. This is a hong kong that is really on the edge of something very, very serious. But if you look back at how we got here, at each step there has been a reaction to severe measures by the authorities, and it really is time at this point, unless something quite unpleasant is going to happen, to dial down on both sides and try to rebuild trust. There has been a complete breakdown of trust in hong kong with the Hong Kong Government and the hong kong police. And this was a place where, essentially, people trusted their institutions. It has been the basis of what was a very peaceful and prosperous place. At e
Protests and running battles between protesters and police, would she or wouldnt she back down and drop the widely hated extradition bill . I now announce that the government has decided to suspend the legislative amendment exercise. Not a withdrawal, then. So is this just a trick to pacify the protesters . It has nothing to do with an intention or wish to pacify. How could i restore, as fast as possible, the calm in society, and how could i avoid any more Law Enforcement officers and ordinary citizens being injured . The fear of more angry protesters returning to these barricades is what has prompted carrie lam and her administration to make what is clearly a major climb down. This is not a temporary pause to the extradition bill this is an indefinite suspension. Nevertheless, it may not be enough to prevent very large crowds from coming out here again on sunday for another huge show of discontent. On wednesday, the policejust. This young protester and many of his friends will be out