Thread: Hong Kong Pro-Democracy Protest

China’s foreign minister made it clear Beijing would not allow other countries to meddle into its ‘internal affairs’, responding in this way to US Secretary of State’s call for Beijing to grant Hong Kong the “highest possible degree of autonomy.”

The American and the Chinese heads of foreign offices exchanged their views on the massive protests in Hong Kong before their talks at the US State Department on Wednesday.

"Hong Kong affairs are China's internal affairs,” Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said. “All countries should respect China's sovereignty. And this is also a basic principle governing international relations. I believe for any country, for any society, no one will allow those illegal acts that violate public order.”

Wang added he believed the current Hong Kong leadership was able to handle the large-scale sit-ins by itself.

The remark was made after US Secretary of State John Kerry reiterated Washington’s support for “universal suffrage” in Hong Kong, the main demand put forward by protesters in the Asian financial hub.

"We support universal suffrage in Hong Kong accordant with the Basic Law, and we believe in open society with the highest possible degree of autonomy and governed by rule of law is essential for Hong Kong's stability and prosperity," Kerry said.

Wang Yi received the same message from Barack Obama, whom he met later the same day, according to a White House statement about the meeting.

"The United States has consistently supported the open system that is essential to Hong Kong's stability and prosperity, universal suffrage, and the aspiration of the Hong Kong people," the statement reads.

Protesters in Hong Kong have been demanding election reform. They’re against the central government’s August decision to only allow Beijing-approved nominees run for the city’s leader post in the next election in 2017.

Sunday’s massive crackdown on thousands of protesters, when police use of tear gas, pepper spray and baton charges did not lead to a dispersal of the crowds. What it did inspire is more anger with Hong Kong's current leader, Leung Chun-ying, with protesters starting to demand his resignation.

On Wednesday, a leader of the pro-reform protests warned the demonstrators were ready to occupy government buildings if the city’s chief didn’t step down by the end of Thursday.

An unnamed government source close to Leung says Hong Kong's chief executive is ready to wait for weeks for the protests to quiet down.

"Unless there's some chaotic situation, we won't send in riot police... We hope this doesn't happen," the source told Reuters. "We have to deal with it peacefully, even if it lasts weeks or months."



Beijing has backed the Hong Kong authorities and accused protesters of dragging the city into “chaos,” as can be grasped from a commentary published on Thursday in the People's Daily, a mouthpiece of the Chinese government.

It said that the rule of law must be safeguarded "in order to realize the healthy development of democracy and politics in Hong Kong," as cited by AP. "Handling affairs without following laws, Hong Kong society will be in chaos."

Tension flared in the streets of Hong Kong on Thursday after police started carrying boxes and barrels of ammunition to buildings surrounded by protesters.

Rally participants, angered by police’s actions, tried to block their way. The city’s authorities issued a statement, urging protesters to quickly disperse.

"The government and the police appeal to those who are gathering outside the police headquarters, CGO [central government offices] and CEO [Chief Executive's office] not to block the access there and to disperse peacefully as soon as possible," the statement said, as cited by AFP.

Students began their sit-ins on September 22. Within a few days they were supported by leaders of the broader Occupy Central civil movement, turning the protest into one of the city's largest rallies in decades.

The #OccupyCentral hashtag has eventually gone viral online with umbrellas, used by the rally participants to cover themselves from tear gas and pepper spray becoming symbols of the protest.

http://rt.com/news/192404-china-us-internal-affairs/

Hong Kong police have arrested eight suspected members of triad criminal gangs over clashes at ongoing pro-democracy protests.



HONG KONG: Hong Kong police have arrested eight suspected members of triad criminal gangs over clashes at ongoing pro-democracy protests, after attacks by groups including Beijing supporters left demonstrators injured and bloodied.

The announcement early Saturday (Oct 4) by police that they had arrested 19 men, including several thought to have ties to the city's notorious organised crime gangs, came after student protesters called off talks with the government, citing police failure to stop the attacks.

Hong Kong's main student union said it was walking away from negotiations after police appeared to ignore what it claimed was orchestrated violence carried out by paid thugs sent by authorities to stir up trouble, with the aim of discrediting the protesters.

"There is no other option but to call off talks," said the Hong Kong Federation of Students (HKFS), one of several groups driving a campaign for free elections that has brought tens of thousands of people onto the streets of the semi-autonomous Chinese city for a week. "The government and police turned a blind eye to violent acts by the triads targeting peaceful Occupy protesters," the union added, referring to Occupy Central, another prominent group.

At the press briefing Saturday, police denied acting in concert with triads, adding that 12 people had been injured in the clashes, including six officers.

Hong Kong's embattled leader Leung Chun-ying, facing calls to resign but firmly backed by Beijing, had promised students talks with a top civil servant in an attempt to end the stand-off that has posed the most serious challenge to China's ruling Communist Party in years.

Amnesty International blasted police, saying officers had "stood by and did nothing" to protect protesters. It had first-hand witness accounts of women being attacked in the densely packed shopping districts of Causeway Bay and Mong Kok, the rights group said.

Demonstrators compared the police "inaction" to Sunday, when officers fired pepper spray and tear gas at the peaceful crowds.

"The police are so unfair, these people attack us and they do nothing," Jenny Cheung, a demonstrator, told AFP. "We protest peacefully and the police use tear smoke and pepper spray; when we are attacked the police do nothing."

POLICE DEFEND RESPONSE

Police have defended their response to the chaotic scenes, with senior superintendent Kong Man-keung telling reporters the force had "deployed a lot of manpower to control the situation". But furious protesters said pro-Beijing thugs had been freely allowed to attack their camps. Crowds in Mong Kok chanted "Bring out the handcuffs!" late into the night.

Police officers were seen escorting a man from the scene with his face covered in blood.

There were widespread allegations of sexual assault in the packed crowds, with three girls seen being bundled into a police van in tears after apparently being assaulted at the Causeway Bay protest.

"I urgently want to express to all citizens, no matter what attitude you have towards Occupy (Central), you still have to remain calm, and not use violence or disrupt order under any situation," the city's leader Leung, viewed by demonstrators as a Beijing stooge, said in a televised message.

The protests were triggered by China's announcement in August that while Hong Kongers can vote for their next leader in 2017, only candidates vetted by Beijing will be able to stand -- a decision dismissed as "fake democracy" by campaigners.

While the United States, Europe and Japan have all expressed their concern at the scenes playing out in the key Asian financial hub, China's Communist authorities refuse to make concessions.

In a doom-laden editorial Saturday, China's People's Daily newspaper warned that the protests would cause "severely disrupted social orders, huge economic losses and possible casualties". The Communist Party mouthpiece defended the decision by police to fire tear gas on unarmed protesters earlier in the week, describing their actions as "necessary, appropriate and moderate".

‘BEAT THEM TO DEATH’

Demonstrators had set a deadline of midnight Thursday for chief executive Leung to resign and for Beijing to abandon the proposals to vet candidates.

Leung refused to quit, but in a dramatic televised appearance shortly before the deadline he appointed his deputy to sit down with the HKFS, which has been at the vanguard of the protests. Mistrust was rife that Leung was merely trying to buy time in the hope that the campaign will lose momentum, with Hong Kong residents tiring of the disruption caused by the daily mass sit-ins.

Friday's clashes broke out as the city returned to work after a two-day public holiday.

"I don't support Occupy Central. We have to work and make money. Occupy is just a game," said a construction worker who gave his name as Mr Lee.

Individuals from both sides pushed and shoved each other as water bottles were thrown, and one anti-Occupy protester chanted: "Beat them to death, good job police!"

Shop owners have told of a massive downturn in business.

Hong Kong Finance Secretary John Tsang warned that if the unrest persists, the city's status as one of the world's most important trading hubs could be under threat.

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/...s/1397546.html
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Blindly copying Western-style democracy can only bring disaster, an influential Chinese Communist Party journal wrote in its latest edition following more than a week of pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong.

Citing enduring violence and turmoil in countries like Afghanistan, Egypt, Iraq and Libya, which have tried to adopt such a system of government, the fortnightly magazine Qiushi said that Western democracy did not suit all countries.

"The West always brags that its own democracy is a 'universal value', and denies there is any other form of democracy," said Qiushi, which means "seeking truth", in the issue distributed over the weekend.

"Western democracy has innate internal flaws and certainly is not a 'universal value'; its blind copying can only lead to disaster," Qiushi added.

The article made no mention of Hong Kong, which returned to Chinese rule in 1997 having been a British colony, but the timing of its publication cannot have been a coincidence.

Over the past week, tens of thousands of protesters have demanded that Hong Kong's leader, Leung Chun-ying, quit and that China allow them the right to vote for a leader of their choice in 2017 elections.

Facing separatist unrest in far-flung Tibet and Xinjiang, Beijing is fearful that calls for democracy in Hong Kong could spread to the mainland. The Communist Party leadership has dismissed the Hong Kong protests as illegal but has so far left Leung's government to find a solution.

Chinese state media and officials have launched numerous attacks on Western-style democracy in the past, saying that the country's own system of "socialism with Chinese characteristics" is the best way to govern the world's most populous nation.

Chinese liberals and intellectuals had hoped the new government that took over last year, under President Xi Jinping, would be more tolerant of calls for reform but authorities have indicated they will not put up with any challenge to their rule.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/...0HV06Y20141006

Protest co-organizer Martin Lee sets stage, introduces "Occupy Central" characters in April 2014 talk before US State Department's National Endowment for Democracy.

October 5, 2014 (Tony Cartalucci - LD) - The slogans, leaders, and agenda of the "Occupy Central" movement are supposedly the manifestations of Hong Kong's desire for "total democracy," "universal suffrage," and "freedom." In reality, the leaders of "Occupy Central" are verified to be directly backed, funded, and directed by the US State Department, its National Endowment for Democracy (NED), and its subsidiary, the National Democratic Institute (NDI).

Despite admitting this overwhelming evidence, many "Occupy Central" supporters still insist the protests are genuine and now some propose that the "Occupy Central" leadership does not truly represent the people of Hong Kong. While the leadership of "Occupy Central" indeed in no way represent the people of Hong Kong, the fact still remains that the protest itself was prearranged at least as early as April 2014, revealed by "Occupy Central" co-organizers Martin Lee and Anson Chan before NED in Washington DC.



The talk titled, "Why Democracy in Hong Kong Matters," spanned an hour, with NED regional vice president Louisa Greve leading the duo through a full introduction of the "Occupy Central" movement, its characters, agenda, demands, and talking points. Anson Chan - Hong Kong’s Chief Secretary under British rule - in particular, with her perfect British accent, insisted repeatedly that the issue was China's apparent backtracking on "deals" made with the UK over the handover of Hong Kong in the late 1990's.

Lee, as well as members of the audience, repeatedly stated that Hong Kong's role was to "infect" mainland China with its Western-style institutions, laws, and interests. Lee also repeatedly appealed to Washington specifically to ensure they remained committed to defending American interests in Hong Kong.

Both Lee and Chan would also state that since China appears to be concerned over global perception of how it rules its people, this could be exploited to excise from Beijing concessions over Hong Kong's governance. This included mention of previous protests, including those led by "activist" Joshua Wong and his suspicious "Scholarism" organization that has been tracked since at least 2012 by the US State Department's NDI. And of course, future destabilization was submitted as a viable solution to bending Beijing toward Western concessions.

For those able to listen to the entire 1 hour interview as well as questions and answers, the entire "Occupy Central" narrative is laid bare, verbatim, in Washington DC months before demonstrations began in the streets of Hong Kong. For a supposed "pro-democracy" protest seeking self-governance and self-determination and denouncing "interference" from Beijing, that their leaders are funded by foreign interests, and the plans for "Occupy Central" laid in a foreign capital is ironic at best - utter and very intentional deceit at worst.

Democracy indeed assumes self-governance and self determination. If the US State Department is colluding with, funding, and directing the politicians and protest leaders behind "Occupy Central," the people of Hong Kong are governing and determining nothing - Washington and Wall Street are. Martin Lee and collaborator Anson Chan complain about Beijing dictating policy in Hong Kong, while they sit together in a room full of foreign interests who would dictate Hong Kong's governance instead.


Laid bare is "Occupy Central's" true agenda. It is not about having Hong Kong vote for who they desire to see in power, it is about getting the foreign-backed political cabal behind "Occupy Central" into power, and disarming Beijing of any means to prevent what is for all intents and purposes the "soft" recolonization of Hong Kong, and a further attempt to divide and destabilize China as a whole.

http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/20...-scripted.html

Ukraine... err I mean Hong Kong girl is only asking for democracy! Stop allowing China to pick who runs the HK government. Let the Plutocracy pick who runs! Like in every democracy where you can buy elections.

Most Hong Kong people have grown weary of pro-democracy protests that have sparked clashes with police and disrupted the city for almost two months, and want the government to take action to end them, a poll showed.

About 68 percent of 513 respondents said the government should clear the protesters immediately, according to a survey conducted by the University of Hong Kong Nov. 17-18.

Public support for the demonstrations, which at their peak saw tens of thousands of people in the streets, is waning after crowds dwindled, attempts to negotiate with the government failed and the movement’s leaders failed to agree on strategy. The protests, the most disruptive since China resumed sovereignty over Hong Kong in 1997, were sparked by Beijing’s decision to screen candidates through a committee for the city’s leadership election in 2017.

Hong Kong police will help clear protest sites in the Mong Kok district as soon as preparations are complete, Police Chief Superintendent Hui Chun-tak said at a press briefing yesterday.

Police will take “resolute action” against anyone interfering with bailiffs, and will not tolerate any violence, Hui said. Mong Kok was the scene of some of the fiercest clashes during the protests for free elections.

Splintering Movement

A small group of protesters smashed through a glass door of the Legislative Council building in the Admiralty district early early yesterday, using metal barricades and concrete blocks. Police used pepper spray to repel other people who charged at them. Protest leaders and pro-democracy lawmakers condemned the break-in.

The clash is another sign the movement is splintering, with pro-democracy lawmakers and student leaders unable to restrain the demonstrators.

“The use of violence is definitely against the umbrella movement’s emphasis as that of using peaceful, non-violent means to fight for full democracy,” Alan Leong, leader of the pro-democracy Civic Party, said yesterday in a briefing with other legislators. “It seriously undermines” the movement.

“Umbrella movement” refers to protesters’ use of umbrellas initially as shields against pepper spray. The demonstrations, in their eighth week, are the biggest upheaval since China resumed its sovereignty over Hong Kong in 1997.

Tam Yiu Chung, Chairman of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, a pro-establishment party, said in a separate briefing the break-in shows the movement is “totally bankrupt” and the “warped thinking” they don’t have to obey the law.

Hong Kong has assured investors the city can withstand the protests, said K.C. Chan, secretary for financial services.

“International investors have voiced some concerns,” Chan said on Bloomberg TV. “We have been explaining to international investors that what’s going on here is definitely an incident that the Hong Kong government has every means to deal with.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-1...oll-shows.html