POST OCCUPY CENTRAL - DAY 21 (05-01-2015)

Occupy Central

Occupy Central is a civil disobedience movement which began in Hong Kong on September 28, 2014. It calls on thousands of protesters to block roads and paralyse Hong Kong's financial district if the Beijing and Hong Kong governments do not agree to implement universal suffrage for the chief executive election in 2017 and the Legislative Council elections in 2020 according to "international standards." The movement was initiated by Benny Tai Yiu-ting (戴耀廷), an associate professor of law at the University of Hong Kong, in January 2013.

Umbrella Movement

The Umbrella Movement (Chinese: 雨傘運動; pinyin: yǔsǎn yùndòng) is a loose political movement that was created spontaneously during the Hong Kong protests of 2014. Its name derives from the recognition of the umbrella as a symbol of defiance and resistance against the Hong Kong government, and the united grass-roots objection to the decision of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPCSC) of 31 August.

The movement consists of individuals numbering in the tens of thousands who participated in the protests that began on 28 September 2014, although Scholarism, the Hong Kong Federation of Students, Occupy Central with Love and Peace,  groups are principally driving the demands for the rescission of the NPCSC decision.

Occupy Central site in Causeway Bay was cleared as police moved in  ...

POST OCCUPY CENTRAL - DAY 21: 

Full coverage of the day’s events

C.Y. Leung's meet-the-people forums suspended in wake of Occupy protests

The government has suspended the chief executive's ritual meet-the-people sessions for the first time in the wake of the Occupy Central protests.

‘Report to us,’ Hong Kong police tell 30 key Occupy Central figures targeted for arrest

More than 30 key figures of civil disobedience face prosecution after police initiated their first post-Occupy Central arrests yesterday over the mass sit-ins for democracy.

Claims against Occupy Central founders 'will be complex'

The District Court is to hear claims against Occupy Central's co-founders and fellow protesters from people who say they lost money due to the 79 days of street blockades.

20 people to face contempt charges over Occupy clearance in Mong Kok

Twenty people would face charges of criminal contempt of court over a court-mandated clearance of the Mong Kok Occupy site in November, the Department of Justice told the High Court yesterday.

Hong Kong expo takings up despite warnings over Occupy protests

Last-minute bargain hunters helped push total takings past HK$900 million as the curtain went down on one of the city's biggest annual retail fairs yesterday.

Battle lines drawn in Mong Kok occupation cases

Twenty Mong Kok occupiers will be charged with criminal contempt of court in the High Court next month.

They were among two batches of 55 protesters arrested on the day of the Argyle Street clearance in November for obstructing a public officer carrying out a court order.

The Court of First Instance yesterday heard the case against the first 23 arrested. The other 32 will feature on Thursday.

Cheung Tak-wing, who said he is a freelance reporter with what he called the International Association Press, is one of two exempted from being charged; while a case of a 14-year-old went to chambers.

The deputy director of public prosecutions, David Leung Cheuk- yin, said the Department of Justice is dropping the charge of obstructing an official against 16 of those arrested because of concerns about double jeopardy.

For the charge is based on the same circumstances as the accusation of criminal contempt of court with which they are also charged.

Secretary of Justice Rimsky Yuen Kwok- keung had 28 days from yesterday to prepare an ex parte application for prosecuting the 20.

Judge Anderson Chow Ka-ming "strongly advised" the arrested to find legal representatives to aid their cases as he reminded them that criminal contempt is a very serious offense and there are issues to be resolved in preparing their cases.

Legislator Leung Kwok-hung, who was one of those arrested, questioned the need to return to the Kowloon City Magistrates' Court on January 14 when the Department of Justice has already decided to drop the obstruction charge.

He said the inefficient legal proceedings are wasting too much time.

He recalled hearing from a judge advising newly sworn-in barristers last Saturday that lawyers should work swiftly and efficiently.

"That judge was you," he noted.

Judge Chow replied that the cases handled by the magistrates are beyond his jurisdiction.

Twenty of the 23 who were arrested and were in court yesterday also called for court documents in Chinese and compensation for having to repeatedly appear in court.

Elsewhere, Small Claims Tribunal adjudicator Anthony Chow Siu-wo passed along 18 miscellaneous cases that involve catering operators, retailers and individual citizens who are suing the Occupy Central leadership trio plus representatives of Scholarism and the Federation of Students to the District Court. 


Govt to unveil proposals for CE election

Chief Secretary Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor is likely to unveil three concrete proposals on the electoral methods for the 2017 chief executive poll as part of the second round of public consultation on political reform.

The proposals will focus on the nomination barrier and nomination process of would-be candidates.

But the government will not judge a recent proposal allowing voters a way to veto candidates chosen by the future nominating committee.

Sources told RTHK that the consultation document will suggest a one-eighth nomination threshold or lower on potential chief executive contenders and there will be a cap on the number of nominations.

The contenders will first be pre-screened by the committee.

The government is expected to come up with three proposals on how the committee will pick the final candidates.

They are: "block voting" of three candidates by each member; "multiple votes" on one to three candidates and "single votes" on each candidate.

But only candidates who obtain more than half of the support from the committee will make it to the ballot and be chosen by more than three million voters.

The 50 percent threshold is in line with one of the decisions made by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress in August.

But the consultation will not cover the composition of the nominating committee.
Beijing has said the committee can be modelled on the previous 1,200-strong election committee in 2012.

It is understood that the government would not rule out a so-called "blank vote" proposal recently put forward by law professor Albert Chen Hung-yee.

He had suggested if more than half of voters cast blank votes, the chief executive election should be declared void.

Currently, blank votes are treated as invalid ballots and do not carry any weight in elections.

Lam is expected to give details of the government proposals in the Legislative Council on Wednesday.

But before that, she will submit a public sentiment report to Beijing on Tuesday about events that took place in Hong Kong over the past two months.

But the report will be purely factual and not draw any conclusions.

Lam raised the idea of drafting the report during talks with student leaders at the height of the Occupy Movement in late October.

Occupiers thought the report will help persuade Beijing to allow public nomination for chief executive elections.


Protest teen will not be taken from parents: lawyer

A 14-year-old pro-democracy protester in Hong Kong who faced being removed from his parents will be allowed to remain with his family, his lawyer said Monday, after an outcry over the treatment of minors who look part in the demonstrations.

The secondary school student, who cannot be identified, voiced his anger despite the reprieve, criticizing authorities' actions as "extremely unethical'' and "politically motivated''. 

"The more we are suppressed, the more we think we are doing the right thing,'' he told AFP after the decision.

It comes as a 14-year-old girl who chalked a flower on a protest wall waits to hear whether she will be removed from her father's care at a hearing later in January.
The boy was arrested as police cleared the Mongkok protest camp in late November -- the first of the three main rally sites to be cleared after student-led demonstrators blocked major city intersections in late September to demand free leadership election in the semi-autonomous southern Chinese city.

Police then applied for a care and protection order which could have seen him removed from his parents and sent to a children's home.

But at a closed-door High Court hearing on Monday, the department of justice said that the application for the order would be withdrawn, the boy's solicitor Patricia Ho told AFP.

He was also facing a contempt case for obstructing bailiffs ordered to clear the Mongkok site, but that was dropped at the same hearing, Ho said.

The boy is still set to receive a separate summons for obstructing a public officer, said Ho.


Twenty people to be prosecuted for contempt 

The Department of Justice said on Monday that it hoped to apply to the High Court to prosecute 20 people for contempt in relation to the Mong Kok occupy site clearances.

They were arrested for allegedly obstructing bailiffs and police officers during the removal of barricades on Argyle Street in November.

The department added that it will no longer prosecute the group at the Kowloon City Magistracy for obstructing the work of public officers in order to avoid a double prosecution.


The 20 people, including League of Social Democrats lawmaker Leung Kwok-hung, have accused the government of political prosecution, saying that they had done nothing wrong.


Occupy activists contacted by police

Dozens of democracy activists say they are being contacted by police as suspects in instigating the Occupy movement late last year.

They include key members of the Federation of Students and Scholarism, as well as members of the League of Social Democrats and pan-democratic lawmakers.

Labor Party lawmaker, Lee Cheuk-yan, said on a social networking website that he has been asked to assist with the ongoing investigation.


He said he would seek legal advice before deciding on what to do next.


District Court to hear claims over Occupy Movement

The Small Claims Tribunal on Monday transferred 11 cases against a number of Occupy campaign organisers including Benny Tai Yiu-ting, Chan Kin-man as well as student leaders Joshua Wong Chi-fung and Alex Chow Yong-kang, to the District Court.

The plaintiffs in the cases include taxi drivers and shop owners who said the occupation had caused them business losses.

The tribunal's adjudicator said the cases might affect how people take part in public demonstrations in future, which exceeded the scope of the tribunal.

A hearing will be scheduled at a later date.


Speaking outside the tribunal, Tai said he thought the adjudicator's decision was fair.