Last week, more than 100 businesses in Hong Kong temporarily shut down so workers could join protests across the city.
Protests were taking place to show residents’ opposition of a controversial extradition bill the government are considering, which would allow criminal suspects to be sent to mainland China for trial, rather than stay in Hong Kong.
More than two million people are reported to have taken to the street to protest the bill, and it seems a number of them were there because a few porn sites told them to be.
The adult site AV01 shut down its website on Tuesday, June 11, offering expectant users a message instead of the usual videos, telling them to visit the Legislative Council if they’re not happy with the changes, as Shanghaiist reports.
Another site, ThisAV, called on visitors to attend the protest, calling it a ‘life and death’ decision, rather than ‘playing’ on the internet, and had temporarily shut down so its workers could join in the strikes and protests.
Both sites are back to their usual service now, according to reports (sorry but I’m not going to double check that while I’m at work…). However, AV01 is now displaying a message which reads: ‘If you are a Hong Kong police officer, relative, or supporter, please leave this site.’
As the opposition from residents entered its second week, protesters rejected an apology from Chief Executive of Hong Kong, Carrie Lam, and promised to continue their fight against the controversial law.
Lam tried to apologise for the ways the government had managed the draft extradition law, as The Guardian reports.
However, The Chief Executive did not meet any of the protesters’ demands, which included a withdrawal of the bill, to end the crackdown on activists, and to hold police accountable for violence at previous protests. At the current demonstrations, police fired tear gas and rubber bullets, which resulted in a number of arrests and a hospitalistion.
The opposition movement was bolstered after the release of Joshua Wong, a prominent activist who had been jailed for his role in the 2014 pro-democracy movements.
Wong called on Lam to resign too, saying: ‘She is no longer qualified to be Hong Kong’s leader. She must take the blame and resign, be held accountable and step down.’
If Lam’s efforts to pass the extradition bill succeed, Hong Kong residents and visitors could be sent to trial in China, in communist-controlled courts, which many people in Hong Kong fear would be incredibly damaging to their economy and society.
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Charlie Cocksedge is a journalist and sub-editor at UNILAD. He graduated from the University of Manchester with an MA in Creative Writing, where he learnt how to write in the third person, before getting his NCTJ. His work has also appeared in such places as The Guardian, PN Review and the bin.