{"id":16690,"date":"2020-04-07T13:50:59","date_gmt":"2020-04-07T05:50:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/?p=16690"},"modified":"2021-06-23T15:45:53","modified_gmt":"2021-06-23T07:45:53","slug":"caged-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/2020\/04\/caged-city\/","title":{"rendered":"Caged City"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Metal fences cage the city amid anti-government protests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Re\u00fcs Lok<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\n
\n
    \n
  • \"\"
    Iron nets have been installed in the footbridge connecting Hung Hom station and Hong Kong Polytechnic University, near the Cross Harbour-Tunnel.<\/div><\/div><\/li>\n
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    Iron nets installed block the view of PolyU.<\/div><\/div><\/li>\n
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    A footbridge inside PolyU campus has not been fenced but wrapped by plastic sheets.<\/div><\/div><\/li>\n
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    Plastic sheets have also been used to cover some of the footbridges near PolyU.<\/div><\/div><\/li>\n
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    One of the entrances of PolyU remains closed. <\/div><\/div><\/li>\n
  • \"\"
    Traffic resumes as Cross-Harbour Tunnel reopened after two weeks of closure.<\/div><\/div><\/li>\n
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    The footbridge connecting Hung Hom station and PolyU has been wrapped by iron nets, also looks like a cage.<\/div><\/div><\/li>\n
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    Caged-like iron fences have been installed in a footbridge in Wan Chai.<\/div><\/div><\/li>\n
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    Passersby are walking through the cage-like footbridge in Hung Hom.<\/div><\/div><\/li>\n
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    A lock with the slogan \u201crevolution of our times\u201d has been attached to the iron nets.<\/div><\/div><\/li>\n
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    Iron nets have also been installed in footbridges in Kwai Tsing district, where protests are rare. <\/div><\/div><\/li>\n
  • \"\"
    Used tissues and trash are tucked between the holes of the iron nets.<\/div><\/div><\/li>\n
  • \"\"
    A poster stuck on the iron nets in Kwai Tsing is partly removed.<\/div><\/div><\/li>\n <\/ul>\n <\/div>\n \n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

    Iron nets have been installed on footbridges across\nthe city amid the anti-Extradition Law Amendment Bill (anti-ELAB) movement,\nespecially those above trunk roads or railways, in a bid to prevent protesters\nthrowing objects from heights onto nearby carriages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Yau Tsim Mong District Councillor Leo Chu Tsz-lok objects\nto the installation. Two pedestrian footbridges near Hong Kong Polytechnic\nUniversity (PolyU) have been fenced in his constituency, after violent clashes between\npolice and protesters in November last year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Anti-ELAB protesters tried to block the Cross-Habour\nTunnel by throwing objects from footbridges above the Cross-Habour Tunnel Toll\nPlaza and that connecting PolyU and Hung Hom station in the week of November\n11, 2019 in an attempt to trigger a city-wide strike. Violent clashes broke out\nbetween protesters and police officers at the PolyU campus. Police sealed off\nall campus entrances and surrounded the campus till around the end of November.\nThe city\u2019s vital tunnel reopened after two weeks of closure, on November 26,\n2019. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Chu learnt about the installation on December 25, 2019\nafter being informed by nearby residents. He says the district council was not\nconsulted or informed about the installation and the Highway Department did not\nreply to them when they asked for details of the arrangement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cThe installation did not solve the deep-rooted socio-political problem. It is only an ostrich policy,\u201d says Chu. \u201cIs it practical to fence all footbridges in Hong Kong?\u201d He also questions if the fencing has breached the Fire Safety Ordinance and worries if it will threaten safety of footbridge users. Chu says residents nearby are very concerned. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cThe installation did not solve the deep-rooted socio-political problem. It is only an ostrich policy.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

     \u201cInstalling\niron nets is only a temporary solution. The root cause of the social problem\nhas nothing to do with the footbridges,\u201d says Chung Shing, a PolyU student who\nfrequently uses the footbridge connecting the campus and Hung Hom station. \u201cThe\nfencing also recalls memories of what happened at PolyU in November last year.\nAll memories come to my head when I walk across the bridge,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Fenced footbridges can also be found in other\ndistricts where protests are rare. Kwai Tsing District Councillors, Ng Kim-sing\nand Tong Ho-man, discovered installation of iron nets in a pedestrian\nfootbridge connecting Ko Fong Street and Kwai Chung Plaza in January this year.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Similar to Yau Tsim Mong district, no official\nconsultations or announcements were made before the installation. Tong and Ng\nwrote to the Highway Department concerning the issue. The department replies\nthat the installation is only a temporary measure to prevent throwing of objects\nfrom the footbridges. The two councillors find the explanation unacceptable.\n\u201cNo cases of objects being thrown from height on that footbridge have been\nreported in the past year,\u201d Tong says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Tong says the fencing has caused many problems. Some\nresidents complained to him that the fences make them feel uncomfortable.\nWalking across bridges wrapped by nets, residents have the feeling of being\ntrapped in a prison cage. \u201cThese nets also lead to poorer littering problem,\u201d\nhe says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cHow can the problem be solved when the government\ndoes not try to understand why people are still saying \u2018Five demands, not one\nless\u2019?\u201d says Ng. \u201cEven if no one throws objects into carriageways anymore, does\nit really mean the problem has been solved? I think we all understand that the\nproblem is still here.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The Highway Department explains the installation of iron nets is to ensure safety of road users and maintain normal traffic on public roads by preventing the throwing of objects onto nearby carriages. It says the arrangement is only a temporary preventive measure given rise by the exceptional circumstances and the government will review the situation as and when necessary. However, no timetable of removal is given.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Edited by Emilie Lui
    Sub-edited by Wayne Chang<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Cage-like iron nets have been installed on footbridges across the city amid anti-government protests.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16643,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1801,72,543],"tags":[467,1385,1451,1455,1405,1281],"class_list":["post-16690","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-issue-155","category-photo-feature","category-photo-feature-2","tag-hongkong","tag-anti-elab","tag-caged","tag-polyu","tag-protests","tag-social-movement"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16690","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16690"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16690\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16741,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16690\/revisions\/16741"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}