POST OCCUPY CENTRAL - DAY 27 (11-01-2015)

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 27: 

Full coverage of the day’s events

Occupy Central 'not reason behind Li Ka-shing's reorganisation of business empire'

Billionaire Li Ka-shing's reorganisation of his business empire has nothing to do with Occupy Central, a director of one of his firms insists.

Helping improve Hong Kong's communities 'could keep the spirit of Occupy alive'

Taking the democracy message into communities by helping residents improve the place they live could be a "third way" to keep the Occupy Central spirit alive, members of a new group say.

Christopher Doyle looks to Kickstarter to help fund Occupy trilogy

Filmmaking can be democratic and not dictated by tycoons and auteurs, according to Christopher Doyle, who is calling for public support for his latest project, set against the backdrop of the Occupy protests.

Ho spells out when he will resign

Democratic Party lawmaker Albert Ho Chun-yan insists he will resign only after the political reform proposal is vetoed because the arrangement is stacked against the pan- democrats.

Ho announced on Friday he would resign if the proposal, based on the framework laid down by the National People's Congress Standing Committee on August 31, is vetoed by the Legislative Council.


The government concedes it will be almost impossible to find four pan-democrats who will change their stance against the proposal, which would see two to three pre- screened candidates by the Nominating Committee run for the 2017 chief executive election by universal suffrage. There are 27 pan-democrats in the 70-seat Legco.

Ho has been criticized for his planned resignation, which would trigger a de facto referendum, with lawmakers questioning his purpose and effectiveness of quitting. But on a TVB program yesterday, Ho said holding a de facto referendum before the veto was made would be unfavorable to the pan-dems.

"This referendum, if it turned out to be unfavorable, we would suffer from the consequence of having to renege on our pledge to the public. Whereas if we win in the referendum, the government will simply shrug it off and say this is simply a by-election."

He then asked: "So how can that be fair to Hong Kong if we would [give up our] veto rights?"

Ho also dismissed Basic Law Committee member Albert Chen Hung-yee's proposal of a "none of the above" option in the ballot during the 2017 election.

"If we accept this concession, it means we have agreed to give up certain basic principles underpinning a true democracy."

Meanwhile, Legco president Jasper Tsang Yok-sing asked the pan-democrats to enter into a dialogue with the government.

But pan-democrats' "lunch-box meeting" convener Alan Leong Kah-kit shot back: "The pan-democrats met with [Chief Secretary] Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor twice, but there was no improvement."


Also, medical-sector lawmaker Leung Ka-lau plans to conduct a poll on the reforms after launching a forum for members of the Hong Kong Public Doctors' Association.