Beijing slams HK unrest, violence

The United States has contentious relations with both Russia and China, but Khalilzad has repeatedly consulted the rival powers and appeared to find common ground on Afghanistan.

PARIS, France (AFP) — China’s foreign minister on Monday denounced months of pro-democracy unrest in Hong Kong as “violence pure and simple,” accusing foreign forces and the international media of fueling the political crisis.

The comments, in an exclusive interview with AFP, were the most direct condemnation from a top Chinese official of the protests that erupted five months ago and have seen millions of people take to the streets calling for greater democracy.

“What is happening in Hong Kong today are in no way peaceful protests,” Wang Yi said during the interview with AFP during a trip to Paris on Monday.

“It’s violence pure and simple. These are unacceptable acts in any country,” he added, accusing the protesters of attacking police, members of the public and paralyzing transport.

Hong Kong has been riven by seething protests for the past 20 weeks, with violence spiraling on both sides of the ideological divide.

While huge crowds have regularly marched peacefully, clashes have repeatedly broken out between smaller groups of hardcore protesters and riot police.

The hardline protesters have thrown molotov cocktails and bricks at police, as well as vandalized businesses perceived as being pro-China. Police have responded with rubber bullets and tear gas.

With no political solution in sight the clashes have intensified with each passing month.

China has run Hong Kong under a special “one country, two systems” model, which allows the city liberties not seen on the mainland, since the financial hub’s handover from the British in 1997.

But public anger has been building for years over fears that Beijing has begun eroding those freedoms, especially since President Xi Jinping came to power in 2012.