(CNN)A group of pro-democracy Hong Kong politicians has demanded that Hong Kong’s government explain whether it requested assistance from China in public security and disaster relief after members of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) were seen Saturday helping clear roads after anti-government protests .
Following a week of some of the most intense fighting Hong Kong has seen since demonstrations began in June, Hong Kong public broadcaster RTH reported that Chinese soldiers already stationed in Hong Kong joined pro-China residents of Hong Kong in cleaning up debris after protests had blocked roads. Social media feeds show men in green and black uniforms, with Chinese flags on their shoulders, returning to barracks that, according to Reuters, they rarely leave.
Chinese soldiers’ efforts to clear road blocks outside the barracks in Kowloon Tong was "purely a voluntary community activity initiated by themselves," the Hong Kong SAR government said in a statement to CNN.
Five legislators said that if Hong Kong had requested the assistance, it was continuing "to indulge in escapism, evade political settlement of political issues, and further weaken one country, two systems."
"The (Hong Kong) SAR Government and the People’s Liberation Army stationed in Hong Kong have repeatedly cooperated to create excuses," the […]
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