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Police Arrest Dozens of Pro-Democracy Protesters in Hong Kong Police Arrest Dozens of Pro-Democracy Protesters in Hong Kong
(about 3 hours later)
HONG KONG — A confrontation in Hong Kong between pro-democracy protesters and the police continued into a second day on Saturday, as dozens of students were arrested after occupying the forecourt of the local government’s headquarters. Thousands of supporters remained in the area, and some said the confrontation was a forerunner of bigger protests expected next week. HONG KONG — A tense standoff in Hong Kong extended into a second night on Saturday, as thousands of pro-democracy demonstrators massed in front of the city government headquarters, defying the police, who had earlier arrested dozens of students. Many said the confrontation was an early start to a bigger protest that a leading democracy movement has planned for months.
“We came to support the students, who merely wanted a dialogue about our demands,” Iris Cheung, a university student who had joined the crowd, said Saturday. “But you can see that the government doesn’t want dialogue,” she said. While the rest of the city went about its weekend as usual, the protesters — mostly teenagers or people in their twenties — turned an area next to the government buildings beside Victoria Harbor into a passionate but orderly stage to demand a say in electing Hong Kong’s leader, the chief executive. The Chinese government last month laid down much narrower plans for electoral change, which would keep its power as a gatekeeper deciding who can run the city, a former British colony.
“Now Occupy Central will be bigger, because people will be angrier,” Ms. Cheung said. She was referring to Occupy Central with Love and Peace, the city’s main pro-democracy movement, which is expected to hold a sit-in next week in Central, Hong Kong’s financial heart. “We think that this place is ours, not the government’s,” said Will Mak Wing-kai, a student from the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
The demonstrators are protesting China’s plan for changing how Hong Kong elects its top leader, the chief executive, starting in 2017. The current chief executive, Leung Chun-ying, has backed the plan, which for the first time would let the public vote for the top leader; Mr. Leung and his predecessors were selected by a committee dominated by Beijing loyalists. He said he was among 200 or so students who on Friday night stormed into a forecourt near the entrance to the government headquarters, known to the demonstrators as Civic Square, which had recently been blocked off from the public. Mr. Mak left the forecourt voluntarily early on Saturday, but in the afternoon the police hauled off about 100 remaining protesters there.
But critics say that vote would be meaningless, because the plan includes procedural hurdles that would screen out candidates who do not have Beijing’s implicit blessing. “We want to see the Hong Kong people come out to protect their freedom and democracy,” Mr. Mak said, rapidly taking phone calls about organizing the swelling crowd. “I want the government to be representative, elected by us from our hearts, not by the Chinese government.”
The latest protests erupted on Friday night, at the end of a weeklong boycott of classes by university students to protest China’s election plan. The students, many of whom had gathered near the government headquarters, were joined on Friday by hundreds of high school students, and the peaceful rally gave way to a night of torrid protest. Under current electoral laws, the chief executive is selected by a committee dominated by Beijing loyalists. On Saturday, the crowd veered from anger and jeering to an almost celebratory mood when number of officers thinned. Tensions rose again as darkness fell and the police regrouped across the square from metal barriers, inadvertently left there by the government and appropriated by the demonstrators.
A group of 200 or so students evaded the police and stormed into the forecourt near the entrance of the government headquarters, known to the demonstrators as Civic Square, which had recently been blocked off from the public. A ring of police officers surrounded the protesters inside the forecourt, but hundreds and eventually thousands of protesters gathered outside the fence, most of them apparently in support of the students. Many in the crowd unfurled umbrellas, donned plastic raincoats and flimsy gauze masks, and put sheets of plastic wrap over their eyes, fearing that the police would use pepper spray, as they had on Friday night and Saturday morning. Some also wore yellow ribbons given out by the protest organizers as a symbol of hope for change. Seventy-four people have been arrested since the confrontation started on Friday, the police said.
“We didn’t come for violence,” said Paul Leung, a recent university graduate who came to support the students and stayed for much of the night. “The Civic Square belongs to the people, not the government. We have the right to be there, to demand that the government dialogue. But instead, they sprayed us, treated the students like criminals, not like citizens.” For both sides, the standoff appeared to be a dress rehearsal, or even an early start, for bigger protests that the leading pro-democracy group, Occupy Central with Love and Peace, has said could start as soon as Wednesday, China’s National Day, which is also a public holiday in Hong Kong. That group takes its name from Hong Kong’s financial district, known as Central, and its organizers have said they will hold a sit-in there to protest Beijing’s proposals for election change, which they say betray promises to allow all voters to choose the chief executive.
By Saturday afternoon, dozens of additional police officers with shields and helmets had moved into the forecourt, and the remaining students were told they had five minutes to leave before force would be used. Amid jeers from protesters on the other side of the fence, the police one by one pulled away the protesters, who had joined arms. Sixty-one people were arrested, the police said. “This will definitely lead into Occupy,” said Chris Mok, a research assistant who attended the demonstration outside the government headquarters. He and others said the sight of the police squirting eye-searing pepper spray at the students on Friday night, shown on television news reports, would galvanize support for the planned sit-in.
In a society with a tradition of reverence for education, the students have drawn an outpouring of support from classmates and other residents, some of whom sent bottled water, tissues and snacks to the demonstrators on Saturday. Some residents saw echoes of Beijing in 1989, when there was a surge of public support for students who occupied Tiananmen Square, before the protests were brutally suppressed. “Hong Kong people have a special feeling for our students,” he said. “I decided to come down here this morning after I saw them pepper-spraying the students.”
“They are ready to pick up the democracy baton from the student movement in China in 1989,” said Sonny Lau, 57, who came to support the students early on Saturday morning, when he said he was pepper-sprayed by the police. “Part of our success would be to put pressure on the Communist Party by getting the world’s attention.” In a society that reveres education, the students have drawn an outpouring of support from classmates and other residents, who sent bottled water, tissues and snacks, which by Saturday had accumulated into mountains of supplies. Some residents saw echoes of Beijing in 1989, when there was a surge of public support for students who occupied Tiananmen Square, before the protests were brutally suppressed.
Since Hong Kong was returned to Chinese sovereignty in 1997, the former British colony has kept its own independent courts and legal protections for free speech and assembly, as well as a robust civil society. But many democratic groups and politicians say the city’s freedoms are eroding under mainland China’s growing political and economic influence. “They are ready to pick up the democracy baton from the student movement in China in 1989,” said Sunny Lau, 57, who said he was pepper-sprayed by the police when he arrived to support the students. “Part of our success would be to put pressure on the Communist Party by getting the world’s attention.”
Occupy Central is expected to announce soon that it will hold sit-in protests in Central starting on Wednesday, China’s National Day, which is also a public holiday in Hong Kong. Chan Kin-man, a co-founder of Occupy Central, has indicated that the announcement will be made on Sunday. Since Hong Kong returned to Chinese sovereignty in 1997, the former British colony has kept its own independent courts and legal protections for free speech and assembly, as well as a robust civil society. But many democratic groups and politicians say the city’s freedoms are eroding under mainland China’s growing political and economic influence.
The Hong Kong Federation of Students said Saturday that the protest would go on at least into the night. The Hong Kong government’s secretary for security, Lai Tung-kwok, warned people to stay away from the area. The current chief executive, Leung Chun-ying, has backed Beijing’s plan for electoral changes, which for the first time would let the public vote for the top leader, starting in 2017. But critics say the plan includes procedural hurdles would screen out candidates who do not have Beijing’s implicit blessing, making the vote meaningless.
“Right now, there are still a considerably large number of people gathering there,” he said. “I appeal to them that they leave as soon as possible, and to other people not to go to the government headquarters or join in associated activities.” “I don’t want Hong Kong to change to be like China, with corruption, unfairness, no press freedom, no religious freedom,” said Edith Fung, 21, a land surveying student. She said she had been indifferent to politics until earlier this year.
The latest protests erupted on Friday night, at the end of a weeklong boycott of classes by university students to protest China’s election plan. The students, many of whom had gathered near the government headquarters, were joined on Friday by hundreds of high school students, and that night the peaceful rally gave way to a night of torrid protest.
By Saturday afternoon, dozens of additional police officers with shields and helmets had moved into the forecourt near the government headquarters, and the remaining students were told they had five minutes to leave before force would be used. Amid jeers from demonstrators, the police dragged away the protesters, who had often joined arms, one by one.
The Hong Kong government’s secretary for security, Lai Tung-kwok, warned people to stay away from the area. But they continued streaming in on Saturday night, although most avenues into the protest area were blocked by the police. For some, the day was an initiation into opposition politics that could leave a lasting mark.
“This is the first time for me at something like this,” said Eva Mo, a student of nursing who had joined the medical squads offering first aid to protesters. “They treated the students like children,” she said of the government. “We only asked for dialogue. But there was none.”