POST OCCUPY CENTRAL - DAY 24 (08-01-2015)

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 24: 

Full coverage of the day’s events

Hong Kong begins second consultation on electoral reform

Chen Zuoer says he is open to discussion on the idea of allowing residents to veto all candidates in the 2017 chief executive poll, amid concerns that the field would be favourable to Beijing.

Face off: student leader Joshua Wong ambushes Carrie Lam over election reform proposal

Joshua Wong Chi-fung confronted Chief Secretary Carrie Lam in a rare face-to-face encounter this morning, as they passed each other in the corridor of a radio station’s offices.

Wong blasts justice officials, cops



The Department of Justice was yesterday accused of wasting judges' time and taxpayers' money by dragging people into court without charging them.
Scholarism founder Joshua Wong Chi-fung told a pretrial hearing the department and the police should get their act together and only take suspects to court when they are ready to proceed with their cases.

"We are not on 24-hour standby and cannot just appear in court at the department's beck and call," Wong said.

"If you are going to charge us, don't delay anymore and don't just keep saying you are planning to prosecute us. Every time we are called we just sit here to listen to your dialogues and then we're told to come back another day. You are wasting taxpayers' money and you are wasting the judge's time."

At the hearing Deputy Director of Prosecutions David Leung Cheuk-yin applied for 56 more days to prepare related documents and evidence.

Wong also questioned the police's time management skills.




Key Beijing adviser urges scrutiny of HK education



The former deputy of the Hong Kong and Macao State Affairs Office, now a key Beijing adviser, says the SAR's education minister should be subject to the central government's scrutiny at all times.

Speaking in a Beijing forum that was discussing Hong Kong youth issues, Chen Zuo'er said the SAR's youth lacked national identity.


"Why was there chaos in the Hong Kong education sector during the illegal Occupy Central?" Chen asked. "Why have those who were only babies when Hong Kong returned to China [in 1997] become `frontline soldiers' waving Britain's flag and charging the PLA barracks, the Legislative Council and the government office?

"Is it because there is disconnection between the education beliefs of related bureaus and implementation of the China constitution, `one country, two systems' and the Basic Law?"

However, education sector lawmaker Ip Kin-yuen accused Chen of disrespecting or even distorting the Basic Law, since education policies are an internal matter of the SAR and Beijing should not intervene in the local internal affairs.

University of Hong Kong principal law lecturer Eric Cheung Tat-ming posted on his Facebook page: "According to the Basic Law article 136, the government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region shall, on its own, formulate policies on the development and improvement of education, including policies regarding the educational system and its administration."

Cheung said Chen's suggestion was an obvious violation of the Basic Law since the education policy falls within the scope of "high degree of autonomy" promised to Hong Kong.


Chen said Occupy Central showed the meaning of an ancient Chinese phrase "Planting melons will make you receive melons,while planting beans will make you get beans." He said it was clear who were the "sweet melons" and who were the "poisonous beans" in Hong Kong.


Nomination cap would see just six candidates in poll 



The cap on nominations for the initial stage of the 2017 chief executive election could be set to 200 votes of the Nominating Committee, which would see a maximum of six hopefuls entering the race.

Speaking on a radio program, Chief Secretary Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said yesterday: "Those hopefuls can have equal opportunities to garner the support of the Nominating Committee members' nominations."


The launch of the public consultation on Wednesday had outlined a proposal to lower the threshold of endorsement from 150 to 100 votes, which could see up to 12 candidates in the initial stage. No number on the nomination cap was listed in the report.

Last night, Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying said he hoped pan- democratic lawmakers who have vowed to boycott the second consultation, "can understand their historical, social and political responsibilities."

He said the government hoped to secure the two-thirds majority of lawmakers' support in the Legislative Council.

Lam said any decision about University of Hong Kong law professor and Basic Law Committee member Albert Chen Hung-yee's proposal about a "blank vote" option on the chief executive ballot would depend on the support of pan-democratic lawmakers.

She said new subsectors would be added to the Nominating Committee "provided pan-democratic lawmakers supported the political reform."

Lam said in the aftermath of the Occupy Central movement, it was difficult to make adjustments to the existing 38 subsectors and the formation of new ones would depend on the willingness of those holding them to give up seats.

Secretary for Mainland and Constitutional Affairs Raymond Tam Chi-yuen said yesterday if the threshold were set at 100 votes to enter the initial stage, he expected two pan-democrats to be able to enter the race.

He said the government may conduct a public opinion poll during the next one to two months on whether citizens support the political reforms. He said the government had no bargaining chips to garner support form the pan-democrats but will still "do their best."


Former chief executive Tung Chee- hwa said in a statement he hoped the pan- democrats will cherish this public consultation opportunity to engage in discussions about political reform.