Tag Archives: Hong Kong

30 Year Old & 25 Year Old Hong Kong Legislators Defy Barring Order

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Hong Kong’s legislature has descended into chaos after two young pro-independence lawmakers defied a barring order and barged into the chamber as democrats formed a human chain around them, forcing the session to be adjourned.

At a swearing-in ceremony two weeks ago, Yau Wai-ching and Sixtus Leung modified their oaths in an act of defiance by using a derogatory word for China. Yau also slipped in an expletive.

After Yau and Leung of the Youngspiration party entered the Legislative Council’s main chamber on Wednesday, surrounded by other legislators and dozens of journalists, the body’s president ordered them to leave, but the two refused.

After half an hour, the session was adjourned until next week.

The two legislators insisted they had the right to enter the chamber to retake their oath of office. Council rules state that members cannot attend meetings or vote before they take the oath.

The two were part of a new wave of youthful pro-democracy lawmakers elected in September amid a rising tide of anti-China sentiment, with many residents concerned about Beijing eroding Hong Kong’s wide autonomy.

“If we lose this war … our system is done for. We have no room to retreat,” said Leung, tears welling in his eyes.

The democrats called on Andrew Leung, council president, to step down, while Yau accused him of “destroying the dignity” of the council.

Nathan Law, a new legislator who advocates self-determination for Hong Kong, said that while he may not endorse the pair’s behaviour when they first took their oaths, they should be allowed to sit as elected legislators.

“What we are trying to protect is people’s rights to vote, and Hong Kong’s legislative system,” Law said.

Read More: aljazeera

Hong Kong Protest Continues After Fruitless Talks with Government

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About 200 Hong Kong protesters marched to the home of the city’s Beijing-backed leader on Wednesday to push their case for greater democracy a day after talks between student leaders and senior officials failed to break the deadlock.

Others continued to occupy main streets in the Chinese-controlled city, where they have camped for nearly a month in protest against a central government plan that would give Hong Kong people the chance to vote for their own leader in 2017 but tightly restrict the candidates to Beijing loyalists.

A wide chasm separates the protesters and the government, which has labelled their actions illegal and repeatedly said their demand for open nominations is impossible under the laws of the former British colony.

“I’m here hoping the government will listen. If they don’t listen we will come out again and again to fight for our basic, grassroots nomination right,” said protester Wing Chan, who took part in the march.

Expectations had been low for a breakthrough in Tuesday’s cordial, televised talks which pitted five of the city’s most senior officials against five tenacious but poised student leaders wearing black T-shirts.

Protesters were unhappy about what they felt was a lack of substantive concessions. Andy Lau, a 19-year-old college student, said now was the time to step things up.

“I think it is time to seriously consider escalating the movement, such as expanding our occupation to many more places to pressure the government to really face and answer our demands,” he said.

Demonstrators marching to the home the city’s leader, Leung Chun-ying, repeated calls for him to step down. Many were angry at remarks he made this week that more representative democracy was unacceptable in part because it would result in poorer people having more say in politics.

 

Hong Kong Protest Declines as Workers Resume

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Hong Kong started to return to work on Monday after more than a week of pro-democracy protests disrupted the Chinese-controlled city, with the protest movement facing a test of its stamina after more clashes with police and pro-Beijing opponents.

Civil servants began arriving for work at the main government offices of Hong Kong’s leader, Leung Chun-ying, which have been the focal point of protests that initially drew tens of thousands onto the streets. The bureaucrats were allowed to pass through protesters’ barricades unimpeded.

Numbers of protesters fell sharply overnight into the hundreds. The protesters remained at a stalemate with Leung’s pro-Beijing government and there was no sign of movement on talks that were proposed to end the stand-off.

The protests have ebbed and flowed over the past week, with people leaving the streets overnight to return later. The test on Monday will be whether that pattern continues in the face of the government’s determination to get Hong Kong back to work.

Fearing a crackdown after city leaders called for the streets to be cleared so businesses, schools and the civil service could resume on Monday, protesters who have paralyzed parts of the former British colony with mass sit-ins pulled back from outside Leung’s office.

Only about 100 protesters remained on the road leading into the Central business district but the road was still closed to traffic even though many had pulled back during the night. Heavy traffic was reported on other thoroughfares.

Over the past week, tens of thousands of protesters have demanded that Leung quit and that China allow them the right to vote for a leader of their choice in 2017 elections.

Facing separatist unrest in far-flung Tibet and Xinjiang, Beijing is fearful that calls for democracy in Hong Kong could spread to the mainland. The Communist Party leadership has dismissed the Hong Kong protests as illegal but has so far left Leung’s government to find a solution.

The protest groups bowed to pressure from the government, businesses, shop owners and taxi drivers and said they would dismantle barricades barring the way to key government buildings and allow civil servants to get to work on Monday.

Some banks that had closed branches during the unrest of the past week also threw open their doors for business on Monday.

Hong Kong Leader says he will not Step Down

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Authorities in Hong Kong have offered to hold talks with pro-democracy protesters who are continuing to occupy central areas of the southern Chinese city, pressing for political reforms. Minutes before a midnight deadline set by the protesters for Hong Kong’s chief executive Leung Chun-ying to resign passed, Leung said he would send his chief secretary to meet the demonstrators. He said he had no intention of stepping down. The students had earlier on Thursday threatened to escalate their protests – including occupation of government buildings – unless Leung stepped down.

He warned the protesters of serious consequences if they chose to storm government buildings. She said that Leung’s statement was played on loudspeakers to the protesters outside and was received with a lot of booing. She noted that the crowd had become noisier since the speech. but there had been no attempts made so far to cross the barrier.

With the protests showing no signs of waning, Wang Yi, China’s foreign minister, issued the warning to the US and other foreign countries not to interfere.

Reuters news agency, citing an official source, reported that Leung was willing to let the demonstrations go on for weeks if necessary. Speaking in Washington, Wang said China would not tolerate “illegal acts that violate public order”.

The People’s Daily newspaper, the government’s official newspaper, said in a commentary on Thursday that Beijing “fully trusts” Hong Kong’s Leung, and that it is “very satisfied with his work”.