POST OCCUPY CENTRAL - DAY 57 (10-02-2015)

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 57: 

Full coverage of the day’s events

Editorial Who is trying to throttle universal suffrage?	明報社評 實質討論是照妖鏡 可折射誰扼殺普選
THE second round of public consultation on constitutional reform has failed to generate much public response, thanks to the pan-democrats' boycott of the consultation. If this state of affairs continues, the reform is doomed to be vetoed by the pan-democratic lawmakers, as the officials in charge have said. There will then be no election of the chief executive by universal suffrage in 2017, and the existing electoral arrangements will remain unchanged. However, opinion polls have again and again shown that the majority of the public would like to elect their chief executive by "one person, one vote".	政改第二輪諮詢，由於泛民陣營杯葛，在社會上未能引起迴響。若情况沒有轉機，則今次政改將如主事官員所說「凍過水」，勢必因為泛民議員在立法會否決方案，出現2017年普選特首落空，政制安排原地踏步的結局。不過，衆多調查結果顯示，市民期望2017年一人一票選舉特首，始終佔大多數。
According to the fourth survey done by the Concern Group for Public Opinion on Constitutional Development, 49.5 percent of respondents said the Legislative Council should pass the reforms based on the August 31 framework of the National People's Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC), while 38.1 percent hold the opposite opinion. It is true that, for the first time since such surveys have been conducted, those in favour of "adopting the reforms first" accounted for less than 50 percent of respondents. At the same time, of those who considered themselves pan-democratic supporters, 76.8 percent said the reforms should be vetoed, up 10.3 percentage points since the previous survey, while only 15 percent believed they should be passed, down 13.9 percentage points. These figures suggest that, after the occupy movement, more pan-democratic supporters are opposed to the reforms. It seems public opinion is changing in a way that makes it more difficult for the pan-democratic lawmakers to support the reforms. However, the survey also found that if the authorities revise the reform proposals in various ways, there will be a significant increase in the number of pan-democratic supporters in favour of adopting the reforms based on the NPCSC's August 31 framework.	政改民意關注組第4次政改民調結果顯示，49.5%受訪者支持通過全國人大常委會8．31決定為框架的政改方案，仍然多過否決方案（38.1%）的受訪者。不過，此乃歷次調查以來，支持「袋住先」首次未及50%；另外，自認民主派支持者之中，有76.8%認為應該否決方案，較上次調查增加了10.3個百分點，認為應該通過方案的民主派支持者只有15%，下跌了13.9個百分點。數字反映民主派支持者在佔領行動之後，更多人拒絕接受8．31框架的方案。表面上民意之消長，泛民議員更難找到藉口支持8．31框架，可是調查發現若當局就政改作不同程度改動，民主派支持者轉而支持8．31框架方案，卻也明顯增加。
Early last month, shortly after the second round of public consultation was launched, this newspaper commissioned the Public Opinion Programme of the University of Hong Kong to conduct a survey, and the results were similar to those mentioned above, with 56 percent of respondents in favour of adopting the reforms first, and 34 percent against. And if the government is committed to further democratising the 2022 chief executive election, 64 percent of those polled would support the reforms, while only 23 percent would not.	去月初，本報在第二輪政改諮詢啟動之後，委託港大民意研究計劃所作的調查，亦有類似結果，認同「袋住先」的受訪者有56%，反對通過方案的為34%。若政府承諾在2022年特首普選安排進一步民主化，有64%受訪者支持方案，反對者跌至23%。
Two things are clear from the surveys. First, the majority of the public have not resolutely turned their backs on the August 31 framework, and would like to elect their chief executive by "one person, one vote". Second, if the electoral arrangements can be improved after 2017, or if the composition of the nominating committee can be further democratised, public support for the August 31 framework will further increase. The authorities and pan-democratic lawmakers should not ignore the public's aspirations, but must try to respond to them so that there may be election of the chief executive by universal suffrage in 2017.	這些調查結果顯示兩點：一、大多數民意並未絕對否定8．31框架，期望2017年以一人一票選出特首。二、若特首普選辦法日後可以改善，或是提委會組成有更多民主成分，支持8．31框架方案的市民就更多。當局和泛民議員對此不能視若無睹，應該嘗試尋求解決辦法，回應市民的訴求，在2017年落實普選特首。
For a pluralistic society like Hong Kong, it is only natural that there should be conflicting opinions on constitutional reform. However, the present controversy shows we are not adhering to the principle of rationality, especially as the government and the opposition have never entered into any concrete discussions. We hope the pan-democratic lawmakers will cast aside their unreasonable inflexibility and hold discussions with the government, and the central and SAR governments will take further steps to prove that they are sincere in their efforts to introduce universal suffrage in Hong Kong in 2017. Once concrete discussions are entered into, the public will see clearly which side it is that seeks to throttle universal suffrage and deprive them of the right to elect their chief executive by "one person, one vote".	政改有爭議，在香港這個多元社會是正常的事。不過，就今次政改，本港偏離了理性原則，特別是朝野從未有過實質討論。我們期望泛民議員放下僵化原則，與當局討論政改；中央和特區政府則要做更多事情，使人看到當局爭取在港確切落實2017年特首普選的誠意。若有實質討論，任何一方面不想實現普選、褫奪港人一人一票選舉特首的權利，則市民自會判斷！