This article is from the source 'nytimes' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/27/world/asia/hong-kong-democracy-leader-says-limits-harm-rest-of-china.html
The article has changed 8 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 2 | Version 3 |
|---|---|
| Hong Kong Democracy Leader Says Limits Harm Rest of China | Hong Kong Democracy Leader Says Limits Harm Rest of China |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| HONG KONG — A leader of Hong Kong’s democracy movement warned on Friday that extinguishing hopes for free elections in the city would undercut prospects for political liberalization across all of China, while another said protesters were likely to attempt a sit-in in the city’s financial heart next week. | HONG KONG — A leader of Hong Kong’s democracy movement warned on Friday that extinguishing hopes for free elections in the city would undercut prospects for political liberalization across all of China, while another said protesters were likely to attempt a sit-in in the city’s financial heart next week. |
| In a further sign of rising tensions, about a hundred protesters swarmed a square in central Hong Kong as the police struggled to prevent others from following. Several student protesters were arrested, protest organizers said. | |
| The two co-founders of Occupy Central With Love and Peace, the movement that has led demands to democratically elect Hong Kong’s leader, made the warnings at the end of a week of student protests over Beijing’s limited proposals for electoral change, released last month. But they and other democracy advocates said the increasingly hard-line Chinese Communist Party under President Xi Jinping appeared set against offering any real concessions. | |
| Chan Kin-man, an Occupy Central co-founder, said the group was nonetheless committed to peacefully “occupying” part of Hong Kong’s main financial district, called Central. He said the protest would probably take place on Wednesday, China’s National Day holiday, which is also a public holiday in Hong Kong. Until now, the group has been coy about its plans for that day. | Chan Kin-man, an Occupy Central co-founder, said the group was nonetheless committed to peacefully “occupying” part of Hong Kong’s main financial district, called Central. He said the protest would probably take place on Wednesday, China’s National Day holiday, which is also a public holiday in Hong Kong. Until now, the group has been coy about its plans for that day. |
| “I’m quite sure that we will occupy, and very likely on that day, but I can’t say for sure,” Mr. Chan, director of the Center for Civil Society Studies at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said in an interview. He said Occupy Central would announce its plans on Sunday, after more discussions and preparations. | |
| “I don’t see any room for compromise, really,” he said. “We have to rely on a vibrant civil society that protects us, instead of expecting any meaningful change in the institutions, at least in the short run.” | “I don’t see any room for compromise, really,” he said. “We have to rely on a vibrant civil society that protects us, instead of expecting any meaningful change in the institutions, at least in the short run.” |
| The confrontation in the square followed a series of speeches by protest leaders. Some of those in attendance broke past guards to enter the square, near the Hong Kong government headquarters, and the police scrambled to surround them and stop others from entering. Several members of the university student federation were arrested, said Yvonne Leung, president of the Hong Kong University student union. | |
| Despite adopting a name similar to Occupy Wall Street, the movement that began in 2011 with protests against economic inequality, the Hong Kong movement has focused on electoral demands, and many of its supporters are middle class, with a few from the city’s financial elite. | Despite adopting a name similar to Occupy Wall Street, the movement that began in 2011 with protests against economic inequality, the Hong Kong movement has focused on electoral demands, and many of its supporters are middle class, with a few from the city’s financial elite. |
| After Hong Kong returned to Chinese sovereignty in 1997, it kept an independent judiciary and relatively robust protections for free speech that had developed under British colonial rule. But the city’s leader, or chief executive, is chosen through an election committee, now with 1,200 members, many of them business figures, bankers, traders and professionals loyal to Beijing. | After Hong Kong returned to Chinese sovereignty in 1997, it kept an independent judiciary and relatively robust protections for free speech that had developed under British colonial rule. But the city’s leader, or chief executive, is chosen through an election committee, now with 1,200 members, many of them business figures, bankers, traders and professionals loyal to Beijing. |
| Occupy Central and other pro-democracy groups and parties in Hong Kong have said the Chinese government’s election proposals betrayed promises that starting in 2017, Hong Kong’s chief executive would be chosen by all voters. The Chinese plan would engineer outcomes favored by Beijing, they said, making any popuular vote an empty ritual. | |
| Aspiring candidates would need to win approval from at least half the members of an nominating committee, which, like the current election committee, would be dominated by groups beholden to Beijing. And only two or three candidates would be allowed to run. | |
| At a news conference, Benny Tai, another co-founder of Occupy Central, argued that China‘s long-term viability depended on letting the city become a laboratory for full-fledged democracy. | At a news conference, Benny Tai, another co-founder of Occupy Central, argued that China‘s long-term viability depended on letting the city become a laboratory for full-fledged democracy. |
| If China’s leaders were “farsighted enough,” said Mr. Tai, they would “see that they will have to think seriously about political reform in China, and this reform may involve a certain kind of electoral reform.” | If China’s leaders were “farsighted enough,” said Mr. Tai, they would “see that they will have to think seriously about political reform in China, and this reform may involve a certain kind of electoral reform.” |
| “Throughout the whole of China, where will be the best place to have this pilot test of electoral reform?” he said. “I cannot think of any other place except Hong Kong.” | “Throughout the whole of China, where will be the best place to have this pilot test of electoral reform?” he said. “I cannot think of any other place except Hong Kong.” |
| In Hong Kong, anger with the Chinese government runs especially deep among people in their 30s and younger. This week, thousands of university students boycotted classes and attended assemblies to voice their demands, and on Friday hundreds of high school students also abandoned classes for a day of protest. | In Hong Kong, anger with the Chinese government runs especially deep among people in their 30s and younger. This week, thousands of university students boycotted classes and attended assemblies to voice their demands, and on Friday hundreds of high school students also abandoned classes for a day of protest. |
| At a rally outside the Hong Kong Legislative Council building, hundreds of the students sat on the ground in orderly rows, some in their school uniforms, some doing homework while they heard speeches from supporters. Quite a few said they had come despite parental disapproval. | At a rally outside the Hong Kong Legislative Council building, hundreds of the students sat on the ground in orderly rows, some in their school uniforms, some doing homework while they heard speeches from supporters. Quite a few said they had come despite parental disapproval. |
| “My mom supports me, but my dad opposed me,” said Oscar Mo Hau-chuk, a slight teenage boy at the protest, where the police gently herded the students behind barriers. “I told him this government is dark, is wrong, because it doesn’t listen.” | “My mom supports me, but my dad opposed me,” said Oscar Mo Hau-chuk, a slight teenage boy at the protest, where the police gently herded the students behind barriers. “I told him this government is dark, is wrong, because it doesn’t listen.” |
| He and other students said only a few of their classmates attended, while most students went to school as usual. “They also support us but were not allowed to come by their parents,” said Jodie Lam, an 18-year-old who was doing math homework while she sat with two classmates. | He and other students said only a few of their classmates attended, while most students went to school as usual. “They also support us but were not allowed to come by their parents,” said Jodie Lam, an 18-year-old who was doing math homework while she sat with two classmates. |
| Joshua Wong, 17, a leader of the youth protest group Scholarism who recently graduated from high school, said protesters seemed to be getting younger. | |
| “I thought I was young when I protested against national education at the age of 15,” he told a crowd of thousands in the evening, referring to protests in 2011-12 against proposed school curriculum changes that critics said were a vehicle for indoctrination. “Then I saw a 12-year-old today.” | “I thought I was young when I protested against national education at the age of 15,” he told a crowd of thousands in the evening, referring to protests in 2011-12 against proposed school curriculum changes that critics said were a vehicle for indoctrination. “Then I saw a 12-year-old today.” |
| “I do not want to see, 10 years later, primary school students out there still protesting for democracy,” said Mr. Wong. | “I do not want to see, 10 years later, primary school students out there still protesting for democracy,” said Mr. Wong. |
| He was also arrested during the sweep into the square. The planned sit-in is likely to involve similar scenes on a bigger scale. | |
| Mr. Tai, an associate professor of law at the University of Hong Kong, said the civil disobedience would continue well after the Occupy Central movement ended. One idea is to hold an informal vote to elect a “shadow” chief executive. The democracy advocates held a referendum in June that presented residents with rival plans for changing the election system, and it attracted 787,000 votes, equal to more than one-fifth of the city’s electorate. | Mr. Tai, an associate professor of law at the University of Hong Kong, said the civil disobedience would continue well after the Occupy Central movement ended. One idea is to hold an informal vote to elect a “shadow” chief executive. The democracy advocates held a referendum in June that presented residents with rival plans for changing the election system, and it attracted 787,000 votes, equal to more than one-fifth of the city’s electorate. |
| “It is a kind of parallel government we can run,” said Mr. Tai, referring to the idea of an unofficial chief executive. “Now, surely we are not running the actual society, but we are putting checks on the government.” | “It is a kind of parallel government we can run,” said Mr. Tai, referring to the idea of an unofficial chief executive. “Now, surely we are not running the actual society, but we are putting checks on the government.” |