Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters return to the streets
Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters return to the streets
(about 5 hours later)
HONG KONG – Thousands of people of all ages packed the streets at the main protest site in Hong Kong on Friday evening, as the government’s decision to pull out of talks breathed new life into the pro-democracy movement.
HONG KONG — Thousands of people of all ages flocked back into the streets of Hong Kong on Friday evening as the government’s decision to pull out of talks breathed new life into a pro-democracy movement.
From a makeshift stage, volunteers, doctors, housewives and academics spoke to the crowds expressing their support for the movement and vowing to continue the struggle until the Hong Kong government responded to their demands for democracy.
Crowds at the protest sites in the city had been dwindling this week, but speakers said the government had miscalculated if it thought the popular desire for democracy was waning.
Academics read out a petition accusing the Chinese government of violating the Basic Law, Hong Kong’s mini-constitution introduced after the handover from British rule, by failing to grant Hong Kong the right to elect its own leaders according to international democratic standards. They also blamed the Hong Kong government for its unwillingness to talk and to listen to its own citizens, and for using tear gas on peaceful protesters at the start of the protests.
From a makeshift stage, students and other protest leaders were joined by volunteers, doctors, housewives, lawmakers and academics, in expressing their support for the movement and vowing to continue the struggle until the Hong Kong government responded to their demands for democracy.
“We condemn the Hong Kong government’s lack of goodwill and unwillingness to deal with the situation through genuine dialogue,” said one speaker, reading the petition.
But the loudest cheers of the night were reserved for Joshua Wong, the slight and bespectacled student leader who celebrates his 18th birthday Monday and urged supporters to bring their tents, mattresses, mats and sleeping bags, to fill up every inch of the protest site in central Hong Kong and prepare for a “long-term occupation.”
Other speakers led the crowd in chants of “Hope is in the people, change starts from disobedience,” Stay until the end,” and “Protect Hong Kong.”
“This is our only choice if the government blocks the conversation. We are tired but we don’t want to lose,” he said in Cantonese, before leading the crowd in an English chant of “Democracy now, democracy in Hong Kong, we will never give up.”
Above them, banners demanded Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying to step down, called for democracy and justice, warned Taiwan to “beware” of China, and quoted the lyrics from a local pop song imploring people to “hold tight to freedom amid the wind and rain.”
Throughout the three-hour rally, speakers and the crowd chanted “Stay on the streets until the end,” “fight on” and “protect Hong Kong.”
Earlier in the day, organizers urged crowds to refill the protest sites.
“Hong Kong’s determination has created one historic moment after another,” Wong said, demanding that the government apologize for using tear gas at the start of the protests, and threatening to expand the protests if the authorities did not come to the negotiating table.
Alex Chow, secretary general of the Hong Kong Federation of Students, said that though the crowds urging democratic reform in Hong Kong had thinned considerably over the past week, “there was no question of giving up.”
Above the stage, banners demanded that Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying step down, called for democracy and justice, warned Taiwan to “beware” of China, and quoted the lyrics from a local pop song imploring people to “hold tight to freedom amid the wind and rain.”
“No one wants to give up before we gain something from this action,” Chow said, beside the main protest site. "Only by generating more pressure will the government face the public."
In Washington, the Congressional-Executive Commission on China said the United States should boost support for democracy in Hong Kong. Beijing responded by saying this was sending the wrong message to demonstrators and called it a “deliberate attack” on China.
The call back to the streets set the stage for further confrontation between protesters and the government here.
Speaking in Berlin, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said the situation in Hong Kong was part of China’s internal affairs and warned other countries to respect its sovereignty, news agencies reported.
Chow also threatened further acts of civil disobedience if the government did not come to the negotiating table as promised. He said one possibility was again blocking government offices, as they did in the first week of demonstrations, preventing civil servants from going to work.
“I am sure the people of Hong Kong have the wisdom, and the government has the authority, to preserve the prosperity of the city and also social stability,” he said.
The government in Hong Kong backed out of the talks Thursday, saying they would not meet with the leaders after they had called for supporters to resume street demonstrations. That was an unacceptable threat, Hong Kong’s number two official said. The first round oftalks had been scheduled for Friday.
In Hong Kong, frustration has grown at the prolonged occupation of streets, but the movement still appears to enjoy considerable popular support.
On Thursday, pro-democracy legislators said they would join the civil disobedience campaign by using their position on the Finance Committee and two subcommittees in the Legislative Council to block non-essential government work. Alan Leong, the head of the pro-democratic Civic Party, said legislators wanted to signal "loud and clear" their support for the campaign.
At the rally at the main protest site, speakers condemned the government’s decision to withdraw from talks with the students that had been planned for Friday, reserving particular ire for Leung and his deputy Carrie Lam, who had been supposed to lead the official delegation.
Pro-democratic lawmakers were also preparing an impeachment motion against Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying, Leong said. They have been demanding that anti-graft officers investigate a $6.4 million business pay-out to Leung while in office.
“If they had any courage they should be here facing us,” said Alex Chow, secretary general of the Hong Kong Federation of Students. “I am prepared to talk to Carrie Lam, but where are you? You cannot escape from us — maybe for now, but not forever. You cannot insult us forever. This government has no legitimacy.”
Meanwhile, the China Human Rights Defenders group said police across China had taken into custody dozens of activists, petitioners, artists, and other citizens who had posted messages online or gathered to show support for the protestors. The majority of the detentions took place in Beijing.
Academics read out a petition accusing the Chinese government of violating the Basic Law, Hong Kong’s mini-constitution introduced after the handover from British rule, by failing to grant Hong Kong the right to elect its own leaders according to international democratic standards. They also blamed the Hong Kong government for its unwillingness to talk and to listen to its own citizens, and the police for using tear gas on peaceful protesters at the start of the protests.
Hong Kong’s Chief Secretary, Carrie Lam, warned that occupation of Hong Kong's streets must end before any meaningful negotiations could begin, and also said the government is not prepared to discuss the protesters’ basic demand for democracy.
“We condemn the government’s lack of goodwill and its unwillingness to deal with the crisis through genuine dialogue,” said retired professor Ho Chi-kwan, reading a petition that she said had been signed by 140 academics in under five hours Friday.
That may be the biggest sticking point — her insistence that students not contest the Chinese Communist Party’s ruling in August setting out its interpretation of Hong Kong’s mini-constitution, the Basic Law, and detailing the rules that would govern the election of the territory’s next chief executive in 2017. Those rules effectively gave Beijing and its loyalists in Hong Kong the power to choose who can be a candidate in those elections.
On Thursday, Lam, the territory’s chief secretary, said the government did not feel talks could be held in a constructive atmosphere while the protests continued, but also demanding the students accept the Chinese Communist Party’s August ruling that effectively closed the door on democracy for the former British colony.
Protesters want to open up the nominating process and are also demanding the resignation of Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying.
That ruling stipulated that only candidates acceptable to Beijing would be allowed to stand in elections planned for 2017 to elect Leung’s replacement. Protesters want an open field of candidates, arguing that the current system produces a chief executive who behaves as if he is answerable only to Beijing and does not defend the interests of the people of Hong Kong.
“We have stated again and again that political reform has to be under the Basic Law framework and the recent explanation made by the National People’s Congress Standing Committee,” Lam said.
Just as the use of tear gas was a major recruiting cause for the protesters two weeks ago, so the government’s decision to back out of talks appeared to have galvanized popular anger again this week.
She said that protest leaders had failed to listen to “rational voices” urging them to end their campaign of civil disobedience and that the “illegal occupation of the streets must end.”
In the crowd, there was little optimism that Beijing would back down, but a sense that Hong Kong had been irrevocably changed by these protests and that the current system – where Beijing rules the territory by proxy through a narrow political and business elite – was unsustainable.
“We think that the foundation of the talks has been shaken and we could not have a constructive meeting tomorrow,” Lam said.
“I am extremely moved by this, by how people came out to do this,” said Kenneth Wong, a 24-year-old fashion designer who planned to stay the night at the site with a friend. “It’s like a battle you can’t win. It’s really sad the government won’t take any step to try to achieve a consensus. But the government has definitely underestimated the power of the people.”
Student leaders accused the government of backing out of the talks because it felt a lessening of pressure.
Meanwhile, the China Human Rights Defenders group said police across China had taken into custody dozens of activists, petitioners, artists and other citizens who had posted messages online or gathered to show support for the protesters. The majority of the detentions took place in Beijing.
“I feel like the government is saying that if there are fewer people on the streets, they can cancel the meeting,” said Alex Chow, head of the Hong Kong Federation of Students. “Students urge people who took part in the civil disobedience to go out on the streets again to occupy.”
Daniela Deane in Rome contributed to this report.
Chow accused the government of having been insincere about the dialogue all along.
“We are not asking the government to respond to us by solving all the problems at once,” he said. “They could give some instructions or administrative work to give a blueprint of how all the constitutional reform problems could be settled, but right up to this moment the government has still not given us a concrete proposal to solve the problem.”
Observers said that by failing to take popular discontent seriously, the government had given the students a new rallying cry — just as the police firing tear gas on the protesters last week energized the entire movement.
“I think it’s a big blunder again,” said Michael Davis, a law professor at Hong Kong University. “It was a major move to say they were going to talk to the students — it made people think that maybe there was a little sincerity.”
Sebastian Veg, director of the French Center for Research on Contemporary China, called the government’s decision “terribly irresponsible.”
“I believe there are a range of technical compromises that can be reached between the students and the government, but the government has consistently demonstrated ill will in simply acknowledging the students’ demands,” he said.
But he said he thinks that the students need to devise a new strategy, given the frustration in some quarters with the disruptions to daily life the protests have caused — perhaps retreating to their campuses for a period and setting an ultimatum for the government to offer some meaningful proposals.
“This would highlight the moral bankruptcy of this embattled government and preserve the students’ moral high ground,” he said. “When the government acts like children, the students are called upon to act like the only adults in the room — as they have done so far.”
The atmosphere at the main protest venue — nicknamed “Umbrella Square” by protest leaders — was very relaxed around midnight Thursday, with schoolchildren getting help with their homework, an artist making yellow umbrella shapes out of balloons, a few people singing or doing yoga, some sleeping and many, like 25-year-old twins Hattie and Wendy Lam, just sitting around chatting with friends.
“It’s very chilled,” said Hattie, a quantity surveyor. “Every day I see something new here.”
The Lam sisters called the government’s decision to cancel the talks “lame” and “cowardly” and ultimately unwise. “For sure, people will get tired, but if the government keeps doing things like this, it will provoke more people to come out,” said Wendy, an account executive for a company that sells watches.
Responding to criticism that the prolonged sit-in has disrupted the city and is costing the movement popular support, leaders said students were fanning out through the city trying to explain to people that they had to accept some short-term disruption to traffic in order to achieve their long-term goal of democracy.
