China's Internal Affairs

"Let's set aside differences and spend one minute to look at our city and our home."
"Could we bear to push it into an abyss where everything will perish? Violence, no matter if it's using violence or condoning violence, will push Hong Kong down a path of no return."
"Sincere dialogue [can begin only when calm has returned]."
Carrie Lam, chief executive, Hong Kong

The crowd at a religious gathering in Hong Kong on Wednesday shone lasers on the police station and blocked the roads  CNN

"Hong Kong has come to a critical juncture."
"Protesters have been frequently using extremely dangerous tools to attack the police in recent days, constituting serious crimes with sprouts of terrorism emerging."
Yang Guant, Hong Kong and Macau Affairs office, Beijing

There it is, Beijing baldly identifying the protests, which have indeed turned very ugly from time to time, taking place in Hong Kong as approaching 'terrorism'. Its signal that it is prepared to intervene, to send in Chinese troops of the Chinese Liberation Army to put an end to what Hong Kong police and military have as yet been unable to settle. The demonstrators are determined to continue fighting against what they call the erosion of the "one country, two systems" agreement guaranteeing a level of ongoing autonomy for Hong Kong, dating from Britain's surrender of the colony in 1997 to China.

The weekend saw demonstrators throwing up barricades across the city while police fired tear gas into the crowded underground train stations, along with rubber bullets, and at closer range, pepper pellets. All beyond disagreeable to the protesters, but failing to diminish their anger and their intention to continue until their demands have been met. That Beijing withdraw its less-than-benign influence on Hong Kong, and that Carrie Lam step down from her Beijing-approved position.

Protesters are being beaten with police batons, many of them arrested, bleeding and defiant. A young medic had to be hospitalized after she was hit by a pellet round in her right eye, and that too triggered yet another protest, this time by medical workers. The use of underground police dressed as protesters has outraged the very protesters they have been set to spy on. "This about our freedom. Why should we leave?" stated a 24-year-old masked protester who would only give his name as Yu.

Protesters rallying in Sham Shui Po on Wednesday were quickly dispersed with tear gas    Reuters

Among legal experts in Hong Kong, addressing protesters' actions as terrorism officially could very well lead to extensive anti-terror laws being extended and the China's People's Armed Police tasked with ending the protests completely. The force is geared to handle riots or terrorist attacks, according to the Communist Party's official People's Daily newspaper. Undaunted, protesters again commenced taking to the streets where crowds picketed a police station.

Undeniably, demonstrations have turned increasingly violent, leaving Chinese President Xi Jinping with a distracting challenge to his rule and his intentions relating to the city-state. The precedent of describing protests as terrorism represents a threat of crackdown seen previously in Xinjiang and Tibet. "Hong Kong is China's Hong Kong and Hong Kong affairs are purely China's internal affairs", stated Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying.

Britain has issued staunch statements of official, undiluted support for the demonstrators and their demands, at the same time warning Beijing that there is a line not to be crossed. What it could do about that line is questionable, but at least they have stated unequivocally that the current situation is untenable, and further deterioration will result in some kind of consequences that Beijing will regard as anything but supportive.

The United States has officially warned of overreach and consequences. Two of the more powerful countries whose association with China, one through its colonialist history, the other through vigorous trade and political/geographic/power challenges has Beijing sitting up and taking chagrined and furious notice. And then there is Canada whose current government assured the global community that it had returned from the Siberian isolation of parliamentary opposition in 2015.

Canada, where 2014 figures offer up the data of 300,000 Canadian citizens residing in Hong Kong, representing the largest concentration of Canadians living anywhere in Asia. And according to the Canadian Consulate General in Hong Kong, there are an estimated 500,000 HongKongers living in Canada, a number greater than those living in mainland China, the United States or the United Kingdom. And Canada's voice raised in defence of Hong Kong and the protesters defending democracy?

A veritable squeak befitting the mouse that Canada has become under the leadership of a vainglorious egotist, in place of the roar of indignation and anger that people led to believe that Beijing would respect an agreement that was supposed to last for 50 years of semi-autonomy has been forcibly surrendered to China's ambition to open its maw and swallow Hong Kong whole.

We can confirm the presence of a large number of Chinese paramilitary troops stationed at a sports complex in Shenzhen, just miles from the border with Hong Kong. Some seen here carrying shields and helmets. An officer wouldn’t tell us why they were there and forced us to leave.  Matt Rivers, CNN