POST OCCUPY CENTRAL - DAY 38 (22-01-2015)

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 38: 

Full coverage of the day’s events

Police refuse Jimmy Lai's request to 'charge me immediately', for organising Occupy protest

Media tycoon and activist both arrested for roles in Occupy protests, then allowed to walk free

Next Media founder Jimmy Lai Chee-ying was arrested for his role in Occupy Central protests but allowed to go free yesterday after reporting to police for a pre-scheduled meeting.

Lai was arrested for both organising and participating in an unauthorised assembly, after spending around 21/2 hours at police headquarters in Wan Chai in the morning.

He said police refused his request to lay charges immediately, "but they said they had the right to ask me to report back any time".

Lai described the atmosphere as good. He said he was shown news footage of his participation in Occupy protests, just as police have done with other leaders of the 79-day civil disobedience movement, which ended last month, when they have reported for pre-scheduled arrests.

Next Media publisher and CEO Ip Yut-kin and Apple Daily associate deputy publisher Cheung Kim-hung waited for Lai while he was with police.

They said the arrest would not have any effect on the operations of Next Media since Lai had resigned as the newspaper's publisher last month.

Ip also said the company was undeterred by recent attacks on its head office in Tseung Kwan O and that security measures had not been stepped up.

On January 12, masked assailants hurled petrol bombs at Lai's home in Ho Man Tin and the Next Media offices in coordinated early-morning attacks that were condemned as an attack on press freedom.

That same morning, a police sergeant fired four shots in a struggle with a man who stole bundles of newspapers including Apple Daily and the South China Morning Post from a stall in Hung Hom. A 35-year-old man was arrested last night in connection with the incident. Two women arrested earlier had been released on bail without charge.


Johnson Yeung (left) and supporters yesterday. Photo: Sam Tsang

Meanwhile, police yesterday also refused to charge Civil Human Rights Front convenor Johnson Yeung Ching-yin immediately after a pre-scheduled meeting at which he was arrested for the same offences as Lai.

On leaving police headquarters after over an hour during which he also was shown video recordings, Yeung said he expected to be arrested again.

Supporters and opponents of the protests waited for Yeung, but there were no clashes between opposing groups.

About a dozen people, including Civic Party vice-chairwoman Tanya Chan who was also arrested during the clearance of the Admiralty protest site, voiced support for Yeung before he entered the police headquarters.

Standing across the street were a dozen pro-Beijing protesters who, using a loudspeaker, denounced the pro-democracy activists while playing propaganda songs sung in Putonghua.

On Tuesday, Occupy Central marshals Alex Kwok Siu-kit and Ricky Or Yiu-lam reported to Central police station for the second time in connection with a fracas in Admiralty when they stepped in to help Jimmy Lai. They have not yet been charged.

Additional reporting by Danny Mok










Occupy, pollution take heavy toll on livability ranking 


Hong Kong has become a less livable place for Asian expatriates because of political and social unrest caused by the Occupy Central movement and poor air quality, according to consultancy firm ECA International.
Its latest report, released yesterday, showed Hong Kong fell 16 places to the 33rd spot, way below Singapore, which again topped the survey for 16 years in a row.

"The reason Hong Kong dropped 16 places from 2013 to 2014 was solely due to the impact of the social and political circumstances of Occupy Central," said Lee Quane, ECA International's regional director for Asia.

"There were demonstrations, anti- government sentiment, polarization of views and confrontations between anti- Occupy and pro-democracy supporters.

"It had an impact on the evaluation of infrastructures. For example, during the movement, certain areas, such as Harcourt Road, were no-go zones. It made it difficult for people to commute to offices."

Australian cities dominated the top 10 places in the survey.

Adelaide and Sydney were tied in second spot, followed by Osaka, Brisbane, Wellington, Canberra, Copenhagen, Nagoya and Perth.

Four cities in Japan, namely Osaka, Nagoya, Tokyo and Yokohama, came higher than Hong Kong in world rankings.

Hong Kong's slide was among the steepest in the survey, but it performed well in other areas, Quane said.

"Hong Kong scores well in a range of factors, including infrastructure, education and health-care facilities, and availability of

goods and services," Quane said.

"Overall the SAR still remains one of the easier places in the world for an outsider to adjust to living and working.

"However, air quality remains much poorer than in many other parts of the region. It has not worsened but it has not improved either."

Just two days ago, Hong Kong recorded an unhealthy air quality index reading of 189.

Quane said Singapore remains attractive to international companies sending workers abroad.

"The fact that Singapore comes out on top time and time again makes it a very attractive proposition for companies looking to set up in the region, particularly when conditions in Hong Kong have deteriorated a little," he said.

"It is very rare to see a location ranked so highly [such as Hong Kong] drop by such a large extent."

Shanghai, ranked 110th globally, is the mainland's most livable city followed by Beijing in 122nd position.

Chongqing and Shenzhen saw the most improvement over the year.