2015年1月17日 星期六

POST OCCUPY CENTRAL - DAY 32 (16-01-2015)



Occupy Central


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), 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 32: 

Full coverage of the day’s events


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Ringing endorsement for CY Leung as Beijing official draws 'rare comparison' to central government

Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying. Photo: Sam Tsang
The vice-chairman of the national legislature said yesterday that support for Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying should be tantamount to support for the central government, according to a Beijing-friendly heavyweight.










Beijing will not allow blank vote: Cheng Yiu-tong 

A local delegate to the National People's Congress, Cheng Yiu-tong, said he believes Beijing will not accept a so-called "blank votes proposal" which will allow voters to declare a Chief Executive election void.

He made the remarks in Shenzhen ahead of a meeting with a senior mainland official, Li Fei.

Cheng said the political framework set out by Beijing in August had to be taken word by word.

He said Beijing would not change its mind, no matter how much noise Hong Kong people make about the issue.


Student leaders turn themselves in to police

Student protest leaders including the teenage face of the pro-democracy movement, Joshua Wong Chi-fung, turned themselves in to police on Friday as Hong Kong authorities target prominent figures who spearheaded mass rallies.
Police have vowed to investigate the "principal instigators'' of protests for fully free leadership elections that lasted for more than two months and brought parts of the city to a standstill before rally camps were cleared in December.

Wong, 18, was one of four leaders of the Scholarism campaign group requested to attend Wan Chai police headquarters on Friday morning as part of the investigation.

The students said that they were expecting to be arrested once they handed themselves in, but had not been told details of the charges. 

"The police arrests will just motivate more secondary school or university students to come to the streets,'' Wong said outside the station before he handed himself in.

He added that police were "irresponsible'' for not specifying the charges he will face.

"I'm worried the police will try to abuse their power but I still respect the law system in Hong Kong.''

Police were not able to immediately confirm what charges would be brought against the students.

Student leader Agnes Chow said she had been "scared'' when she got the call from police.

"But when we think about the things we did, it was to push for a democratic system in Hong Kong, so we think it is worth it,'' she said. 

Beijing has pledged that Hong Kong can choose its own leader for the first time in 2017 but insists on vetting candidates, which protesters dismiss as ''fake democracy''.

Hong Kong and Beijing have consistently branded the protests illegal.

Wong already appeared in court last week for a preliminary hearing on possible criminal contempt charges for blocking the police clearance of one of the main protest camps in November. No formal charges have been laid.

The students were surrounded by dozens of supporters some carrying yellow umbrellas -- the symbol of the democracy movement.

One held a "Je Suis Charlie'' poster -- a slogan which has come to symbolize the fight for freedom of expression after jihadist gunmen stormed the Paris offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo last week, killing 12 people.

This time it was printed over the backdrop of an umbrella. 

Other leading figures have been asked to show up at police stations next week, including outspoken media tycoon Jimmy Lai Chee-ying -- whose house and office were firebombed on Monday -- and the three founders of the Occupy Central campaign.

"People were being unrealistic to think there would be some general amnesty,'' said Simon Young, who is associate dean for Hong Kong University's Faculty of Law.

"It's more a question of what shape this criminal justice response will take. Will it be harsh and punitive or will it be fairly reasonable?


"Police could have been going to homes and knocking on doors, but they aren't. They're doing it in fairly reasonable way without public fanfare,'' he said.


Joshua Wong charged over democracy protests

Student leaders including the teenage face of the pro-democracy movement, Joshua Wong Chi-fung, were charged by police on Friday as Hong Kong authorities target prominent figures who spearheaded mass rallies.

"I was held for three hours and I was arrested on charges of calling for, inciting and participating in an unauthorized assembly,'' Wong, 18, said at the police headquarters.

Three other student leaders face similar charges. All have been released.


Britain abdicates its duties: Leong

Civic Party leader Alan Leong Kah-kit has accused Britain of abdicating its 'legal and moral duties' to the people of Hong Kong, after its Foreign Affairs Office said Beijing's political reform framework can give voters here a 'genuine choice'.

Leong said the UK's Foreign Office minister Hugo Swire had urged them to support the framework during a lunch here last Thursday.


The pan-democrats say Beijing's framework will allow the Central government to vet candidates for chief executive, and they've vowed to veto the reform plan.


CY trades barbs with democrats over free speech


Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying was yesterday embroiled in a war of words with pan-democrats during which he was accused of trying to emulate Mao Zedong by starting a new Cultural Revolution.
At an eventful question-and-answer session during which four lawmakers were ejected from the Legislative Council chamber, the Labour Party's Lee Cheuk-yan said Leung was "a killer of universal suffrage" and free speech for using his policy address to attack the University of Hong Kong student publication Undergrad and its book Hong Kong Nationalism, which advocates self-determination and independence.

"The people of Hong Kong are really having bad luck to have this universal suffrage killer, `689,' as the chief executive ... he is power hungry, he evaded paying tax for HK$50 million and what is most terrifying is that he looks like Mao Zedong. He looks like he wants to start a Cultural Revolution," Lee said.

"If he is fond of political struggles he should step down and go to the mainland."

With a wry smile, Leung dubbed "689" from the number of votes he got from the Election Committee fired back during the shouting match and flipped Lee's words against him.

"If Lee wants to test my power under annex one of the Basic Law ... I would urge Lee to vote in favor of the proposal [on political reform] ... if Lee vetoes the proposal, then he is the real killer of universal suffrage," he said.

"We are in a place with freedom of speech. Everyone is free to make their own statements. This is not a political struggle."

However, Leung refused to confirm if he personally wrote the introduction and conclusion of his policy address and reiterated it was a "collective effort" from his team.

Civic Party lawmaker Alan Leong Kah-kit described the policy address as a "manifesto for political struggle."

Leong added: "Hardly have I ever seen an attempt like this in a policy address. This otherwise unknown book Hong Kong Nationalism is out of print.

"This is not a subject for Hong Kong. Nobody is trying to pursue independence ... Is he so fearful he had to single out the HKU body in the policy address?

"Is there any freedom of speech and freedom of expression? Why is he reacting so strongly to articles written by the students?"

Freedom of expression is a "core value" of Hong Kong, Leung replied, and "everybody can take part in discussion."

He said: "There are some young students who spoke of self-determination, forming an army and nationalism and so on. I think Leong should state if he supports these sort of ideas."

Leong fired back: "If CY Leung's interpretation of this book Hong Kong Nationalism is that Hong Kong is trying to seek independence, then I can say I would be against it."


The four lawmakers ejected included "Long Hair" Leung Kwok-hung, who threw red bean buns at Leung. He smiled as "Long Hair" was wrestled out of the chamber by five security guards.












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