TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Hong Kong's biggest music festival cancelled over political unrest
Change Size
A man looks at his mobile phone as he walks past the toll booth at cross harbour tunnel outside The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, in Hong Kong on November 15, 2019. (AFP/Philip Fong)
C
lockenflap, Hong Kong's biggest music festival, has been cancelled, organizers said on Friday, the highest-profile event so far to fall victim to the increasingly violent political unrest engulfing the city.
British folk-rock sensations Mumford & Sons and American star Halsey were among the headliners for the festival this year, which was scheduled for November 22-24.
"Due to the escalation of the crisis this week, and therefore the uncertainty this creates for the coming weeks, Clockenflap 2019 will be cancelled," the organizers said in a statement.
"Until this week we were fully committed to delivering the festival. Unfortunately, the situation has now made this impossible."
Pro-democracy protests have escalated in the past week with widespread travel chaos wrought by roadblocks and targeted vandalism of metro stations and lines.
Violent clashes between police and protesters have left parts of the city debris-strewn.
Read also: Hong Kong protesters fire arrows at cops, choke city for fourth day
Last Friday, a 22-year-old student died from head injuries sustained during a fall as police skirmished with demonstrators. And on Thursday, a 70-year-old man died after being hit by a brick.
Clockenflap is an annual festival that takes place in front of Hong Kong's iconic harbor and attracts tens of thousands of fans.
It is the latest in a growing list of banned, cancelled or postponed events in Hong Kong's normally packed social calendar.
Hong Kong's annual pride parade due on Saturday was downgraded to a stationary rally after police banned the traditionally boisterous and colorful march.
The WTA Hong Kong Open, Oxfam's annual trail run fundraiser as well as concerts by acclaimed K-Pop acts and comedians have been pulled as the city reels from the protests.
