Hong Kong's chief executive on Tuesday called the recent protests against Chinese mainland shoppers and parallel-goods traders "unacceptable," as observers warned against the potential rise of "Hong Kong separatism" following a spate of small-scale protests initiated by local radical groups.
However, observers believe the movement to seek "independence" for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region only affects a minority and is not likely to gain widespread support.
Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying's remarks came after hundreds of protesters led by a local radical political group called Civic Passion confronted police and Chinese mainland shoppers on Sunday inside a shopping mall in Tuen Mun, a district close to the Hong Kong border with the mainland and popular with mainland tourists.
Accusing the mainland shoppers and parallel-goods traders of causing a nuisance and inflating prices, the protesters shouted slogans demanding that the shoppers and traders leave Hong Kong and go back to the mainland.
Parallel-goods traders is used to describe people who cross the border to buy cheaper products, such as infant formula, diapers, cosmetics and food, which they then sell at inflated prices when they return to the mainland.
One police officer and 13 local people suffered minor injuries as protesters clashed with police. The Sunday protest was followed by another scuffle on Monday, when members of Civic Passion reappeared during a public seminar attended by Hong Kong's Chief Secretary Carrie Lam to discuss the city's ongoing political reform.
The meeting was briefly disrupted when Civic Passion members chanted slogans such as "Hong Kong [should] form a country," while some members of the Hong Kong Federation of Students and Scholarism, student groups which led the Occupy Central protests last year, protested outside the venue, calling for "genuine democracy."
A commentary by newspaper Ta Kung Pao on Tuesday said that following the end of the Occupy Central protests, some local radical groups like Civic Passion have become more radicalized with the tendency to advocate "Hong Kong independence." It also warned against the possibility that these radical groups are merging with the more moderate Pan-democratic groups.
"There is a trend of localism on the rise in Hong Kong and they may give the impression of advocating 'Hong Kong independence.' Hong Kong society should be alert against these dangerous trends," Tam Yiu-chung, chairman of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, told the Global Times.
In a previous interview with the Global Times, Pan-democratic lawmaker and Civic Party leader Alan Leong said his party plans to push a "local narrative" to reassert Hong Kong values and angles when deciding on political reform.
The call for "Hong Kong independence" has emerged in recent years, promoted by some small political groups. The movement had come under the spotlight in January when Chief Executive Leung singled out Undergrad, a monthly student magazine published by the University of Hong Kong's student union, warning that the magazine's previous publication advocating "self-determination" for Hong Kong will lead to "anarchy" in the city.
Speaking at a dinner with Hong Kong politicians last Wednesday, Zhang Xiaoming, head of the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in Hong Kong, openly denounced the idea of "Hong Kong independence," stressing that despite Hong Kong's high degree of autonomy, resistance against the rule of the central government is strictly forbidden.
Zhu Shihai, a professor specializing in the study of Hong Kong at the Macao University of Science and Technology, told the Global Times that instead of "Hong Kong independence," the trend is more aptly described as "localism."
Zhu said some in Hong Kong resort to localism as a way to maintain their sense of pride against the mainland amid the city's slowing economy, but he believes that they will not have a major impact on Hong Kong's political scene.
"As these groups become more radical, they have also become more isolated from mainstream Hong Kong society," Priscilla Lau Pui-king, a National People's Congress deputy in Hong Kong, told the Global Times on Tuesday.