Hong Kong confirmed yesterday that it plunged into recession in 2019, suffering its first annual contraction in a decade as the city buckled under the twin pressures of the US-China trade war and months of furious pro-democracy protests.<br />''<br />''The data was released as the semi-autonomous city began the lunar new year facing another economic crisis — the outbreak of a deadly Novel Corona virus strain which started on the Chinese mainland and is compounding Hong Kong's economic woes.<br />''<br />''Last year was the worst for Hong Kong's growth since 2009, when the financial hub was hit hard by the global financial crash. The crisis was initially sparked by the trade war between Beijing and Washington, hitting the export-heavy economy.But, the hard times were made worse by months of seething and often violent protests seeking greater democracy and police accountability.<br />''<br />''Official figures showed Hong Kong's gross domestic product shrank 1.2 per cent on-year for 2019. The fourth quarter — which witnessed the worst violence between police and protesters — clocked a 2.9 per cent contraction, the third straight quarter of declines.  <br />''Hong Kongers are rattled by the feeling that an increasingly assertive Beijing is clamping down on their city's freedoms.        The protests were first sparked by a proposal to allow extraditions to the mainland and its opaque, Communist Party-controlled legal system.<br />''<br />''But, they soon morphed into a popular revolt against Beijing's rule.<br />''<br />''The extradition bill was eventually killed off after months of unrest, but the movement has achieved few of its other demands, which include an inquiry into the police, an amnesty for those arrested and fully free elections.<br />''<br />''<br />