HONG KONG - About 1,000 students, many wearing black masks, attended a graduation ceremony at the Chinese University of Hong Kong on Thursday, with some holding up banners urging “Free Hong Kong, Revolution Now”.
The students defied a ban on masks that the government imposed last month in a bid to curb unrest that has rocked the Chinese-ruled city for more than five months. The protests started over a now-scrapped extradition bill that would have allowed people to be sent to mainland China for trial but have evolved into calls for greater democracy and an independent inquiry into complaints of excessive force by police, among other demands.
The months of sometimes violent anti-government protests have plunged the former British colony into its biggest crisis in decades, with no sign the demonstrators plan to give up.
IraqProtests