The stakes are indeed high for the authority and status of China’s president for life, Xi Jinping. Conceding the demands of the Hong Kong protesters would prove to a morale booster to the anti-establishment forces in China too. China has always been opposed to democratic reforms and conferring rights to its people. This attitude of China has been primarily responsible for Umbrella movement in 2007. Its unbending resistance to pressure for greater democratic choice brought more trouble in 2007 and 2014. There has also been a spate of highly publicised cases of apparent human rights abuses.

It is intriguing why China is opposed to the demand of the Hongkongers to have democratic rights to elect their representatives? The protesters are vehemently opposed to Chinese racial discrimination against them. Chinese relies on own mainland leaders and people to rule Hong Kong.

After a brief lull once again unrest deepened on anniversary of Beijing’s move to limit democratic reforms in territory. At a time when the protesters for restoration of democracy in Hong Kong were maintaining restraint in the hope of Chinese rulers agreeing to their demands for restoration of democracy, the Chinese security forces launched afresh onslaught on the protesters.

On Saturday, last week, the protesters resorted to peaceful agitation and had surrounded government headquarters. However to disperse them police fired multiple rounds of tear gas. AS the protest spread to other areas gun was also used in some places. A march earlier in the day was peaceful, attended by families, middle-aged and elderly residents. The march was called off by the organiser, Civil Human Rights Front, after police arrested prominent pro-democracy lawmakers and activists, including Joshua Wong, a student leader in the 2014 pro-democracy protests known as the umbrella movement.

On Saturday Hong Kong riot police stormed a metro station, using batons to beat innocent passengers as clashes deepened political unrest in the city for the 13th weekend in a row. Eye witnesses revealed that a number of police officers ran into the carriage and started beating the passengers on the plea of their being protesters.

Critics have been comparing the incident of the police storming the train station to an episode in July, when dozens of masked men in Yuen Long, an outskirt of Hong Kong, beat commuters with rods, an incident that spurred more protests. Despite the arrests and harsher police actions, protesters said they would continue to make their demands, which of course included the permanent withdrawal of the extradition bill.

The latest action of the Hong Kong administration forced them perceive a security crackdown from the government. Some days back Hong Kong’s leader, Carrie Lam, has hinted that a draconian emergency law could be enacted, giving the government sweeping powers to crack down on demonstrators.

Stopping the protest before 1 October, which marks 70 years since the founding of the People’s Republic, has acquired the importance for the rulers. Their failure to do so would send the wrong message across the global fraternity and the Chinese government would come to seen as a weak government.

When the British handed Hong Kong back to Chinese control in 1997, the city switched from having a London-picked governor to a local Chief Executive, selected by an "election committee" and officially appointed by Beijing. But the ultimate aim was for the city's leader to be elected "by universal suffrage."

Administration has been acting in a most arbitrary manner. Joshua Wong, 22, one of the leaders of the 2014 pro-democracy "Umbrella Revolution," was walking to a subway station Friday morning when he was forcefully pushed into a private minivan on the street in broad daylight.

The state-run English-language newspaper China Daily published an editorial on Friday warning that "the armed forces stationed in the SAR (semi-autonomous region) will have no reason to sit on their hands. The People's Liberation Army, the Chinese army garrison in Hong Kong is not merely a symbol of Chinese sovereignty over the city. The troops there are duty-bound to maintain public order and protect the country if required to do so."

One thing is absolutely clear that it is the Chinese suppression which provides more strength to the protest. An impression is gaining ground that the authorities intend to provoke protesters, creating more public anger and chaos on the streets, as a way to justify enacting the emergency law.

With China hardening its stance towards the protesters, they have too been apprising the world fraternity of the torture perpetrated by the government on the people. This would undoubtedly severely damage Hong Kong’s reputation as a global business and finance hub. The protesters say; “The more restrictions they impose on us, the stronger the pushback is. We want to tell them that we will not back down and we’re not afraid. The Umbrella movement was too peaceful. Having just a bunch of people sitting there didn’t pose any threat to the government. We lost the battle completely. Now we have learned from our mistakes.”

Experts say a growing international response could make a difference. Reacting to police tactics last weekend, the UN human rights office said on Tuesday that it had seen “credible evidence” that Hong Kong law enforcement was violating international norms. (IPA Service)