889

There are serious problems tonight, Halloween, in Mongkok. Tear gas has been fired.

On Hong Kong Island, police have raised a yellow flag in Causeway Bay,

Note that Saturday there are events planned in Chater Garden and Edinburgh Place, both in Central. Police have denied a permit for an event in Victoria Park on Saturday.

Clipper801

This was issued just a short while ago at 8:13pm, 31st October 2019 HKT.

Please note that other stations may be closed at any time without notice. Better stay in your hotel!

helvetic

Got caught in the middle of the protests yesterday. Got pretty heated. They closed off the entire area around LKF, we had to be let in by staff we knew with special passes from the venues inside.

percysmith

Govt is The Grinch - 2020 CNY Flower Market set to be cancelled. Creating the crisis and perpetuating the state of crisis

【抗暴之戰】年宵明年1月舉行至今無詳情 傳激烈示威持續政府或「攬炒」取消

https://s.nextmedia.com/realtime/a.p...647&a=60219875

triplefives

And blaring out alarms that GDP is contracting with the trend likely to continue. Who woulda thunk?

eneq

My dad and I are planning on being there that weekend, so I'm definitely concerned. Part of me thinks if the election goes on as normal, it should be a quieter Sunday than normal because everyone will be out voting. But part of me also thinks it could be a much crazier Sunday than normal because the protestors will be out in force trying to influence voters.

889

In every election in Hong Kong, there's a lot of street activity on voting day. Supporters have to stay outside a boundary -- the no-canvassing zone -- around each polling place, so they congregate just outside that boundary and take a final stab at those heading in to vote. That is, no matter what, Sunday will see many people out and about.

wco81

I would think the hotels would pressure the govt. not to suspend events which bring tourists into the SAR.

889

It's 6:30pm Saturday and serious trouble this weekend is on Hong Kong Island, with tear gas already having been fired at various places in the Central - Causeway Bay corridor. Central Station has just been closed. If past practice holds, there will be further station closings on the Island Line as the evening progresses. Airport Express apparently still running, but only between Hong Kong Station and the Airport. With Central Station closed, though, you can't transfer to or from the MTR. Head outside and there's now, at 7:30pm, tear gas around Central Station.

Problems are also developing in Kowloon, with tear gas fired in the TST tourist area.

helvetic

First time getting tear gassed today. Fun. Stings.

Notably, protests and police activity reached Central above Queen's Rd for the first time with activity on Hollywood Rd, tear gas on Wyndham St above LKF.

First time all this mess enters the usually safe expat bubble. Drunk rugby fans were screaming at protestors "can you keep it down, we're drinking."

Not to worry though, still felt much safer getting accidentally caught in the middle of that clash than just walking down a San Francisco St.

TravelLawyer

Yikes!! Were you indoors or were you outside?

Visconti

H - Tear gas is something I've admittedly never experienced. Now, you can say that you have?!

Jokes aside, never thought the unrest would reach certain areas on Central, especially where the expats are mostly concentrated. Not that foreigners should by any general principle be spared from the strife, but, as with certain establishments, I would think that both sides of the dispute would agree they'd be off limits. Fortunately, during my 10 day trip, my disruptions were limited to that Sunday afternoon where I departed for Central virtually moments before things started to get serious.

I still recall on my way to dinner, my companion showed me a Twitter stream reporting of tear gas fired near Kowloon with some escaping the chaos by running into the Pen disturbing some guests having afternoon tea. Due back in a couple of weeks, and debating on where to stay, now that Central too has been affected.

Right now, leaning towards hotels either on the tip of HK Central Star Ferry or the Kowloon Star Ferry. On the bright side, it seems even during these tense moments, at the very least, the AE still runs from HK Station to the HKG.

889

"On the bright side, it seems even during these tense moments, at the very least, the AE still runs from HK Station to the HKG."

No, on Halloween it ran to Kowloon, not Hong Kong Station. And last night, Saturday, it did run to Hong Kong Station, but Central Station was closed early, so MTR connections weren't possible and there were serious problems in Central around the station.

The situation is not getting better, and the attack on the Xinhua office in Wanchai was not a good development. Like I've said, especially on weekends Western and beyond or North Point and beyond seem the safest bets when looking for a room.

EDIT: But trouble can break out anywhere in the urban area. Police have, around 10pm on Sunday, fired tear gas at Cityplaza in Taikoo Shing, a middle-class district that's normally quiet after an attack with some serious injuries.

helvetic

I was outside on Peel St by Hollywood rd. Had to walk through the mess to get down to an important dinner by Queen's Rd Central. Honestly it wasn't a big deal, and now I got to check off the "been tear gassed" thing off the list.

Still very few issues in Sai Ying Pun where I live or Kennedy Town.

Note the protests around Soho seemed to be a fluke. Today was all quiet and back to normal around here. I would expect the area to remain generally free to too much trouble.

For anyone visiting, I would generally recommend staying west of Sheung Wan or South of Queen's Rd Central. North point should generally be safe from too many issues too. The West Kowloon hotels (Ritz/W) should be fairly free of trouble too. South Island is also safe, but might run the risk of transportation issues given the chokepoints at Admiralty and via the tunnel.

BuildingMyBento

I thought weekends - particularly Sundays - were the days that anything could happen, so why were you surprised about something in SoHo yesterday?