Taiwanese Join Hong Kong Protests

HONG KONG (AP) – Thousands of people have marched in Taiwan in support of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protests. Spurred by anti-China cries from loudspeakers, demonstrators took to the streets of Taipei, the capital, on Sunday despite heavy rain. Most wore black and a few donned gas masks, both symbols of the Hong Kong protests. Protester Lin Shu-lian, a 50-year-old office worker, said she is saddened that people in Hong Kong have lost their freedom. She added: “I hope Taiwanese can send a signal that we won’t become the next Hong Kong.” Hong Kong is a former British colony that was returned to China in 1997. The semiautonomous city has more freedoms than mainland China, but protesters feel those freedoms are being eroded.
Taiwan is a self-governing island that split from the mainland in 1949. Government surveys indicate that most Taiwanese oppose unification with China.