POST OCCUPY CENTRAL - DAY 53 (06-02-2015)

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 53: 

Full coverage of the day’s events

Hong Kong government issues boycott order for Democratic Party's anniversary dinner

The chill in the relationship between the government and the Democratic Party has entered a deep freeze, with the government banning all ministers - and even senior civil servants - from the party's 20th anniversary dinner.

'A Beijing official told me to stop filibusters,' Hong Kong Legco chief reveals

But Jasper Tsang - who did not reveal the identity of the official - said he instantly rejected the demand because as president he was bound by Legco rules.

Chinese authorities seize thousands of rolls of toilet paper printed with Hong Kong leader's face

Mainland authorities yesterday confiscated some 7,600 rolls of toilet paper featuring the face of Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying, which the Democratic Party had planned to sell at this year's Lunar New Year fair.

China's man in Hong Kong Zhang Xiaoming hits out at democracy protests

Instilling a sense of national pride and belonging in young people should be a priority for the education system in the wake of Occupy Central, Beijing's top official in Hong Kong said.

Beijing gets word on reform latest


Two members of the three- person political reform task force Secretary for Justice Rimsky Yuen Kwok-keung and constitutional affairs chief Raymond Tam Chi-yuen flew to Beijing yesterday to update officials on the latest developments locally.

Yuen said he will accurately convey the SAR's political situation to the mainland, including the proposal of Basic Law Committee member and law professor Albert Chen Hung-yee to provide a "none of the above" option or blank vote in the ballot for the 2017 chief executive election.

He said he will also inform the central government about another version of "none of the above" as suggested by associate professor Law Chi-kwong of the University of Hong Kong.

"We will appraise mainland officials of the various discussions taking place in Hong Kong with regard to the `none of the above' category," Yuen said.

He added the government is not only fighting for four more votes in passing its political reform in the Legislative Council, but wants the support of as many lawmakers as possible, which will result in better governance.

"From the very beginning, we have been always fighting for the lawmakers' support."

Yuen said there is still some time before the Legislative Council votes on the package in the summer and the government will continue to lobby.

In another development, the Alliance for Peace and Democracy announced its five-day campaign to distribute thousands of leaflets urging the public to express their views on the political reform package.

Alliance convener Robert Chow Yung said lawmakers would pay a heavy price in the 2016 Legco elections if they ignored the will of the people.

The democrats' call to relaunch reform talks was selfish.

Meanwhile, pro-establishment and medical-sector lawmaker Leung Ka-lau criticized pan-democrats for insisting on civil nomination for their own interests.

He explained if the chief executive election remained unchanged in 2017, different pro- democracy parties will need to combine their resources in the election.

Lau Siu-kai, vice chairman of think-tank National Association of Study on Hong Kong and Macau, said the functional constituencies in Legco might remain in the future, but elements of universal suffrage will be added by way of amendments.

But Democratic Party chairwoman Emily Lau Wai-hing said this could not be considered true universal suffrage.






*Why the HKUSU matters?*


The election is recently heated as it is said the student union election in tertiary education sector are infiltrated by Communist or pro-China candidates. Allen Fung was once the cabinet member of HKUSU, and through Wong Yiu-ying, the 2002 president of HKUSU, who was described as "Communist's spy in Hong Kong tertiary education sector", he became the political assistant in Development Bureau in March 2014.

*What happened to the HKUSU election?*

This year, there are two proposed cabinets for the executive committee of HKUSU. Smarties, being one of them, has become the focal point of criticisms of HKU students. It has brought to public attention that Eugenia Ye, the proposed social secretary of Smarties, was found concealing that she is a member of Communist Youth League of China. She admitted that in an open consultation session on Tue, but argued that nearly all Chinese mainland students ("99%") are CYL members when they graduate from high schools.

Leung Yiu-fung, the proposed internal vice-president of Smarties, defended Ye
and suggested that CYL is just the same as scouting. He later apologised in
another session. In the same consultation session, Michael Pang, the proposed president of Smarties, was alleged that he was a member of LSD and People Power. He clarified that he was just a volunteer in these two parties.

On Fri, in another consultation session, Pang led the cabinet to leave as an expression of discontent after repeatedly infringing the standing orders of HKUSU. He shouted to the attendees: "Remember that! You all know my political background!" as he left.