Businesses are closed and rail service suspended, as China's Special Administrative Region Hong Kong is in chaos this weekend. With many thousands in the streets, some of the protesters have vandalized mainland China linked businesses. Some set fire to a train, while others are battling with police, wearing masks despite a ban on face coverings that became effective October 4.

On September 29 in San Francisco, hundreds gathered in the Civic Center Plaza for a rally sponsored by the Northern California Hong Kong Club. Many wore masks and waved U.S. flags. At nearby Stanford University, where security was tight, emotional outbursts temporarily interrupted an academic panel "Hong Kong: A City in Turmoil." Both events were timed to coincide closely with the 70th anniversary of the People's Republic of China.

Some critics of the Hong Kong "pro-democracy" protests, that have now spread to several large cities in the United States, say that Washington and the Pentagon would like nothing more than to see a version of the Tiananmen Square incident of 1989. Despite claims in the press about the protesters being advocates of democracy and freedom, critics insist that demonstrators carrying U.S. flags are asking the the ironically tyrannical President Trump to come to their aid. They fear that by painting the protests as pro-democracy, mainstream media is setting the stage for a major anti-Chinese campaign that could lead to hostilities or even war.

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