Hong Kong protests

Packer said:
You are probably right BUT the Law Of Contract is of prime importance in international affairs. If China were to impose their will on Hong Kong, they would be setting a precedent which could backfire on them and cheese-off the rest of the world
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I don't think so. In practice countries have stronger ties based on mutual interests, those include business deals and ideological aims. SA will not side with the UK as long as they wish to stay in the BRICS. India will side with China. As will Russia. And there is no way in heck that most US businesses will leave China. And you can forget about the Germans or French supporting the UK.

In addition there is a difference between a trade agreement and retaking of territory which was stolen by a stronger power at one time.

which requires some form of integrity and trust for trade and agreements between wildly differing countries and cultures. They would seriously undermine this (informal) relationship between countries by imposing their will on Hong Kong and destroy trust between countries (agreements mean nothing – you can do what you want if you are strong enough).
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That does not follow. All agreements are pragmatic. Countries enter agreements and stay in them as long as it is profitable for them.
(And you'd think that the Chinese support of North Korea all these years, a country which has nuclear weapons and threatens to nuke Tokyo and bomb Seoul, would make people weary of CHina. Sorry.)

What you haven't addressed is the nationalist view in China. If mass protests, whether agitated for, or grass roots demand HK, PRC will take HK. It's an issue of survival for the Communist Party there, that's not a controversial view.

I honestly think that China could take HK tomorrow and we'd see less sanctions than against RUssia. And those Russian sanctions are not even that significant.
 
CHINA BACKS HONG KONG LEADER AMID RESIGNATION CALLS

The official newspaper of China's ruling Communist Party backs Hong Kong's embattled leader against calls to resign from thousands of pro-democracy protesters.

"The central government has full confidence in Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying, and is completely satisfied with his work," the People's Daily said in a front-page editorial.

Student leaders of the Hong Kong protests are threatening to blockade government offices if Leung fails to resign by Thursday.

In a series of recent commentaries, state media have called the protests illegal and insisted that elections for Hong Kong's next leader in 2017 must be conducted under existing rules requiring candidates to be approved by a Beijing-backed committee.


Source : Sapa-dpa /kd
Date : 02 Oct 2014 09:55
 
SYDNEY PUBLIC POSTS ITS SUPPORT FOR HONG KONG

Supporters in Sydney of Hong Kong's pro-democracy protests have stuck colourful Post-it Notes all over the wall of the Hong Kong economic and trade office in the city.

Hundreds of messages of support have been written on red, yellow, green and pink stickers and pressed to the sandstone wall of Hong Kong House, next to Sydney's Town Hall.

"Democracy is not only about Hong Kong, it's about a hope for the future," said one note as it peeled off the wall, the Sydney Morning Herald reported Thursday.

"People have this belief that one person can't make a difference, " Natasha Adams, 25, told the newspaper. "But if people keep posting, one by one, all over the world, things can change."

For every note that sticks to the wall hundreds have been blown away, making a colourful carpet down Sydney's main street.

A spokeswoman for Hong Kong House told the paper: "We respect their freedom of speech and their right to protest."

"As the owner of a heritage building, we are obliged to keep the whole building, including its facade, in a proper condition. We will see how this can best be achieved in the current circumstances."

Protesters in Hong Kong have taken to the streets this week to demand that Beijing expand its reforms to the territory's electoral system ahead of polls in 2017, to allow public nominations for leader.

The movement, which gained momentum at the weekend, has been dubbed the Umbrella Revolution after demonstrators used the protection they had brought for the weather to fend off tear gas launched by police.


Source : Sapa-dpa /kd
Date : 02 Oct 2014 11:24
 
TIMELINE OF HONG KONG DEMOCRACY PROTESTS

Here are key dates in Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement this year, leading up to mass protests that have brought tens of thousands onto the streets to demand fully free elections:

June 4: Tens of thousands gather in Hong Kong to remember the dead on the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown, the only major commemoration in China as authorities clamp tight security on Beijing.

June 10: Beijing issues a "White Paper" on Hong Kong which, according to democracy campaigners, shows that the city's much-cherished freedoms could be revoked at any time.

June 30: The results of an unofficial referendum organised by the protest group Occupy Central show that nearly 800,000 votes are cast in favour of greater democratic freedoms than Beijing has proposed.

July 1: An annual march that organisers say attracted half a million people -- the largest demonstration since Hong Kong was handed over from Britain to China in 1997 -- demands democratic reforms.

August 18: Tens of thousands of people, some waving Chinese flags, mount a counter-protest against the pro-democracy campaign.

August 31: China insists on its right to choose candidates for the leadership of Hong Kong in 2017 elections, when for the first time the city's voters rather than a nominating committee will elect the leader. In response, Occupy Central and others vow to embark on an "era of civil disobedience" including mass sit-ins.

September 22: University students begin a week-long boycott of classes to protest Beijing's refusal to grant the city full universal suffrage.

September 26: Around 150 protesters storm government headquarters and occupy a courtyard in the complex. Police use pepper spray to repel them. Protesters use their now emblematic umbrellas to protect themselves.

September 28: Riding the momentum of the student protest, Occupy Central unexpectedly announces that its long-expected civil disobedience campaign to push for full democracy has begun, later blocking a major street near government headquarters.

In the late afternoon, police fire tear gas to try to disperse protesters.

Crowd numbers swell with many apparently moved to join the protest in anger at the police action.

October 1: Tens of thousands join the protest on a public holiday to mark Communist China's National Day.


Source : Sapa-AFP /kd
Date : 02 Oct 2014 12:18
 
h4F67336B

http://cheezburger.com/8334854656
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...per-spraying-elderly-man-in-face-9767868.html
 
TEXTING APPS REQUIRED GEAR FOR HONG KONG PROTESTS

Just as protesters in Egypt depended on Twitter three years ago, the latest digital tools have become required gear for tens of thousands of people demanding democratic reforms on the streets of Hong Kong.

Many of the demonstrators are glued to the smartphone app FireChat, which lets them communicate even if cellphone networks jam or go down. The protesters just have to turn on their Bluetooth connections within 70 meters (230 feet) from anyone else using the app to see the messages sent by the entire chat group, creating a daisy-chain effect.

Cellphone networks and websites continue to work normally in Hong Kong, although protesters ran into slow network connections this week when trying to use their devices at the same time.

FireChat was reportedly downloaded 100,000 times by users in Hong Kong in just 24 hours earlier this week.

Frances Siu said she learned about FireChat via social media and quickly downloaded it before joining protesters in the city's tense streets.

"I downloaded it mainly because we are worried the mobile network might be interfered with," said Siu, a 25-year-old nurse. "I don't use it much now, but it's there if I need to."

Website developer Amy Ho said she was using the app to figure out where to go and what to bring protesters.

"If this is your first time entering the Causeway Bay protest site and are unsure where the supply stations are, the app will share that information," Ho said.

Protest leaders, meanwhile, have turned to another messaging app, called Telegram, which depends on a network to operate but encrypts messages.


Source : Sapa-AP /kd
Date : 02 Oct 2014 13:51
 
H.K. GOVT TELLS PROTESTERS TO 'DISPERSE PEACEFULLY AS SOON AS POSSIBLE'

Tensions rose in Hong Kong on Thursday as the government urged demonstrators to "disperse peacefully as soon as possible" after police were seen unloading boxes of rubber bullets.

The announcement followed confrontations between pro-democracy protesters and police outside the central government offices, with the government saying the protests were having "serious impacts" on the city.


Source : Sapa-AFP /kd
Date : 02 Oct 2014 13:02
 
MAINLAND CHINESE SHOPPERS STAY CLEAR OF HONG KONG

Sleek luxury store fronts plastered with political slogans and shops eerily empty of customers: the scenes in protest-gripped Hong Kong have left unsuspecting mainland Chinese visitors stunned in peak holiday season.

With access to information about the pro-democracy demonstrations severely restricted in China, many had no idea that streets usually teeming with traffic and tourists had been brought to a standstill.

Nearly half a billion Chinese were expected to travel during the week-long Golden Week national holiday, from October 1-7, with many visiting Hong Kong, South Korea and Japan.

"I think they are protesting. To express dissatisfaction with society, is it?" Huang Xiao-ming, a tourist from Guangzhou, China, asked AFP as she wandered through one of the protest sites in the commercial hub of Tsim Sha Tsui.

"I really have no idea. It's my first day in Hong Kong and I wondered what was happening, so I came here to see it myself."

Beijing has heavily censored all coverage of the protests on the mainland, blocking social media sites and removing from websites any content related to the protests that is critical of Beijing.

But the message is obviously filtering through to some, as retailers and travel agents have reported a drop in numbers making the trip from China.

In one popular Kowloon shopping district, shops have been deserted with vehicle access blocked by protesters and banners reading "True democracy for Hong Kong" displayed over advertisements for luxury brands.

"It really affected business," said Merry Djong, a salesperson at jewellery and accessories shop Folli Follie, looking out over the desolate street and protest barricades.

"There have only been two to three customers today," Djong said. She described it as an 80 percent decline in business, adding that they had expected a surge of customers for Golden Week.

Tour operators told AFP that travel agents in China have been told not to arrange new group visits to the city, further affecting numbers.

"We did not receive any official advice but we have heard from the agents in mainland China (that they've been told) not to accept any new bookings," Joseph Tung, executive director of the Travel Industry Council of Hong Kong, told AFP.

"It (the protest) has already created a big damage to the travel industry... the total mainlander arrivals has dropped," he said, adding that group tours that had already been booked were being allowed into Hong Kong.

One woman who had travelled to Hong Kong from Shenzen to buy supplies for her baby also said she had been denied a visa to enter the semi-autonomous territory on Wednesday, but was allowed to enter Thursday.

"There were few people crossing the border. A lot of visitors were informed (that they were) not allow to come," she said, giving her name as Ms Tam, and waiting with two big boxes of nappies.

"Usually it (takes) us at least an hour to cross the border. Today it only took 15 or 20 minutes."

Mainland tourist May Yau, 23, was heading back home on Thursday a day after arriving with her husband and two children aged seven and eight for the Golden Week holiday.

"I don't think we will come again soon because of the situation," she said, adding they had spent most of the time with relatives, worried by events.

For mainlanders living in the city, the mood has been noticeable even if they have not been directly affected.

"Some friends who haven't been in touch for a long time contacted me and told me to stay safe, don't go home late," said Chinese university student Tizzi Ruan, 22, who has avoided the Central area for two days.

Others have even popped across the border not to shop but to join the protests -- despite Beijing's information blackout.

David Zhang, 24, a software engineer from Dongguan travelled to Hong Kong by train Tuesday to take part in the demonstrations.

"I agree that everyone should have the right to elect their government," he told AFP, sporting a yellow ribbon -- a symbol of the protest movement -- on his shirt.

"It is a strong message that democracy is not brought by the Western world but by the students, the locals," he added.


Source : Sapa-AFP /kd
Date : 02 Oct 2014 14:41
 
Meanwhile, here on the mainland in .cn land, the government actually broadcast the HK demonstrations on the news as "HK people celebrating the 65th anniversary of the Communist Party".

A number of friends commented about that, mostly on the theme of how stupid do they think we are.


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China (mainland) has stopped tours to HK for the moment too, but too be honest, most of the mainlanders could give a toss about the protests, they're there for the shopping.
 
TENSIONS SOAR IN HONG KONG AS POLICE BRING IN RUBBER BULLETS

Crowds of protesters in Hong Kong swelled Thursday after police were seen unloading boxes of tear gas and rubber bullets, sending tensions soaring as authorities urged pro-democracy demonstrators to disperse "as soon as possible".

Huge throngs have shut down central areas of the southern Chinese city with a mass sit-in, including outside the city's legislative assembly, and have given Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying until midnight to step down or face escalated action.

China backed the city's embattled leader, saying it was behind Leung "firmly and unshakably" and pledging support for the police as protesters prepared for a fifth night at the barricades.

Days of peaceful demonstrations have seen tens of thousands of people take over the city's usually traffic-heavy streets as they demand Beijing grant fully free elections in the semi-autonomous city.

In August, China said Hong Kongers would be able to vote for their next leader in 2017 but only those vetted by a loyalist committee would be allowed to stand -- something demonstrators have dismissed as a "fake democracy".

The city authorities Thursday said they wanted the streets cleared around the government headquarters with civil servants expected to return after a two-day public holiday.

In a statement, officials called on protesters "not to block the access there and to disperse peacefully as soon as possible". School classes in the protest-affected areas will also be suspended Friday, they added.

The late afternoon resupply by police officers outside the government headquarters caused widespread alarm and anger among protesters, but more demonstrators arrived on the scene regardless after an appeal from leaders.

Pictures shared widely on social media and television showed one barrel with the words "Round, 38mm rubber baton multi" written on it. Another had "1.5 in, CS" emblazoned on it, a possible reference to tear gas.

"The more people are here, the safer we are," Heiman Chan, 25, told AFP, adding he rushed down to the main protest site after seeing photos of the rubber bullet barrels on Facebook.

"We're not going to leave this space for anything. If they use tear gas we'll run back and hold a new area, if they use rubber bullets we'll have to run a little faster," he added.

Some of those in the crowd wanted to block one of the last trunk roads still open in the area while others were concerned it could provoke violent action from the police.

"If we occupy every road we will provoke the police, and we've already done that by occupying Admiralty," Ares Tse told AFP, in reference to the area that has become the epicentre of the protests.

"The point is to start a dialogue on political reform, not fight police."

China's Communist Party has shown no sign of bowing to protesters' twin demands that Leung step down by Thursday and that Beijing allow Hong Kongers to nominate their next leader.

An editorial in the Communist Party mouthpiece the People's Daily Thursday warned against "chaos" in the city, adding Beijing supported "the police of the special territory in handling these illegal protests according to the law".

Beijing's latest comments came after China's foreign minister issued a stern warning to the United States not to meddle in its "internal affairs".

The demonstrators consider Leung a Beijing stooge and protest leaders want Thursday's ultimatum to be met.

"We will consider having different operating actions in future days, including occupying other places like important government offices," said Agnes Chow of student movement Scholarism.

Some analysts say it is unlikely that Leung will step down, in what would be a massive loss of face for the establishment.

"If Beijing forces him to resign, they will be seen to be buckling under pressure from the protesters. They might give out signals that he has been sidelined, but the likelihood of his immediate dismissal... is not very high," said Willy Lam, a China scholar at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

However Lam added that the longer the protests affect Hong Kong, the more pressure Chinese president Xi Jinping will be under to act.

In a movement being dubbed the "umbrella revolution" -- a nod to the umbrellas they have used to protect themselves against pepper spray, the sun and torrential downpours alike -- the protesters have brought key parts of the city to a standstill, heavily disrupting the transport network and shutting down businesses.

The protests pose a huge political challenge for Beijing at a time when the Communist Party is cracking down hard on dissent on the mainland.

Authorities have scrubbed mentions of the protests from Chinese social media, while rights groups say more than a dozen activists have been detained and as many as 60 others questioned for expressing support for the Hong Kong crowds.

In a sign of Beijing's growing unease, a local tourism leader said Chinese travel agents were reporting that group visits to the city had been suspended.

October 1-7 is known as "Golden Week" in mainland China, a key shopping holiday that usually sees many travel to Hong Kong.


Source : Sapa-AFP /kd
Date : 02 Oct 2014 15:43
 
Hong Kong protests: Student leaders call off talks


Leaders of a pro-democracy student group in Hong Kong have postponed talks with the government after demonstrators were involved in scuffles with opponents.

The group said the government was failing to protect protesters.

Their supporters are angry at plans by China to vet election candidates and have been occupying parts of the city.

Hong Kong's leader offered talks to defuse the situation after the protesters called for his resignation.

But scuffles broke out on Thursday as people apparently angry with the disruption caused by the protests tried to dismantle tents and barricades.

'Broken promise'

The Hong Kong Federation of Students said in a statement it had "shelved" negotiations with the government.

"The government allowed the mafia to attack peaceful Occupy participants. It has cut off the path to a dialogue, and should be responsible for the consequences," it said.

"The government has not kept its promise. We have no choice but to shelve the talks."

It was not clear whether the statement reflected the position of other groups involved in the protest.

Occupy Central leader Benny Tai told the BBC they were still only considering a boycott and that moves were being made to arrange the talks. However, he said police were not protecting the demonstrators against attacks by their opponents and this situation could not continue.

"At this point it's very, very difficult to maintain any sense of dialogue if the government does not stop these things happening to peaceful protesters," he said.
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http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-29477731
:eek:
:mad: :mad: :mad:
 
HONG KONG DEMOCRACY PROTESTS 'UNDEMOCRATIC': CHINA PARTY PAPER

The official mouthpiece of China's ruling Communist Party on Monday slammed pro-democracy demonstrations in Hong Kong as "driving democracy backwards", while state media continued to emphasise disruption caused by the protests.

The People's Daily renewed its criticism in three separate articles on the movement, primarily led by students and the Occupy Central group, which in recent days has seen tens of thousands of protesters bring parts of the global financial hub to a standstill.

"It is also a basic principle of democracy that a small minority not be permitted to violate public space and the public interest through illegal means," a commentator for the paper wrote.

"From this perspective, the recent 'Occupy Central' movement in Hong Kong is completely counter to democratic principles, and is driving democracy backwards," it added.

The articles, carried on the paper's fourth page, were less prominent than the paper's previous denunciations of the demonstrations, as protester numbers dwindled on the streets.

China has repeatedly branded the demonstrations illegal, but Hong Kong's government offered the talks last week in a bid to end an impasse.

By Monday morning, numbers had fallen dramatically at the city's main protest sites, although many said they would return later in the day to resume their campaign for free elections.

The protesters are demanding the right to nominate who can run for election as the former British colony's next leader in 2017. China's Communist authorities insist that only pre-approved candidates will be able to run, which activists dismiss as "fake democracy".

State broadcaster China Central Television, which for much of last week imposed a near-blackout on coverage of the protests, devoted more than 10 minutes to Hong Kong in a Monday morning broadcast.

It showed government employees going back to work as well as interviews with several residents opposed to the protests and a local tour agency operator decrying the impact the demonstrations have had on his business.

But images of the protests themselves as well as international broadcasts of the demonstrations continued to be blacked out by China's censors.


Source : Sapa-AFP /th
Date : 06 Oct 2014 09:22
 
TIANANMEN LEGACY LOOMS OVER HONG KONG PROTESTS
By ELAINE KURTENBACH and LOUISE WATT
Associated Press

The legacy of the 1989 crackdown in Tiananmen Square looms larger in Hong Kong than in mainland China, where the Communist Party has virtually erased all public mention of it. In this former British colony, hundreds of thousands attend candlelight vigils each anniversary to commemorate the grim end to the Beijing movement that was vanquished before many of the pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong's streets were even born.

Hong Kong's student-led protesters insist they are not challenging communist rule, just details of Beijing's plans for political reforms in the city. But many of their elders fear the protesters risk going too far if they stay in the streets in defiance of demands to leave in the biggest challenge to China since it took control of Hong Kong in 1997.

One urging the Hong Kong protesters to bide their time is reform-minded Bao Tong, former aide to then-Communist Party general secretary Zhao Ziyang, who spent the last 16 years of his life under house arrest after sympathizing with the students who occupied Beijing's Tiananmen Square to seek democracy on the mainland.

"The seeds have already been sown, and they need time to lie fallow," Bao wrote in a commentary Sunday for Radio Free Asia. "Take a break, for the sake of future room to grow. For tomorrow," wrote Bao, who has been under house arrest himself after spending seven years in prison.

The memories of the June 4, 1989, military assault that ended the sit-ins in Tiananmen, killing hundreds, are vivid among Hong Kong people old enough to have lived through the exhilaration of the protests and the gloom that followed the crackdown. Many of Hong Kong's 7.2 million people moved to the city to escape poverty, political pogroms and repression of dissent in the mainland, and they value the city's democratic, Western-style civil liberties.

Benny Li, 46, was a university student in Shanghai at the time of the Tiananmen protests and has been living in Hong Kong for several years.

"I participated in the 1989 protests because I wanted the same things that Hong Kong people want now. All my friends in my generation, and those younger than us probably, morally support Hong Kong protesters. We agree with and understand what they are doing," Li said.

The protesters who have camped in some of the city's busiest commercial districts for over a week, and the tens of thousands of their supporters who have poured into Hong Kong's streets, are exercising civil liberties nonexistent in the Chinese mainland, where the government bans public dissent, censors the media and harshly punishes those deemed to be challenging the Communist Party's monopoly on power.

Hong Kong's protesters are peacefully condemning China's decision to require that a committee of mostly pro-Beijing figures screen the candidates for the city's top leader in the first-ever direct election in 2017. The protesters also have demanded Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying resign. He has refused.

The protests in Hong Kong, like those in Tiananmen, are a legacy of student and intellectual dissent stretching to the anti-colonial May Fourth movement of 1919.

Jeffrey Huang, 22, was sitting with other protesters in Hong Kong's Admiralty area, where traffic was blockaded for an encampment festooned with canopies, banners and posters. He said he learned about Tiananmen during secondary school when teachers talked about it at an assembly marking the June 4 anniversary.

"For us, we believe that democracy will help us improve our lives in general and we think that not having democracy is the cause of many problems in Hong Kong, for example the high property prices," said Huang, who recently graduated from law studies.

"The government pays much attention to the property developers because they maybe have the power to elect the chief executive," he said, "and people think if there is more democracy the chief executive and the government will be more accountable to the citizens ... instead of to the privileged class only."

So far, China's central government has lashed out at the protests, branding them illegal and saying Leung has its full support in restoring order. But it has left the handling of the crisis to Hong Kong, which has its own legal system and police - a force of 28,500 officers and 4,000 auxiliary police who at times have appeared hard stretched to keep order with tens of thousands of people in the streets.

Given that the heavily guarded main garrison of the People's Liberation Army is just next door to the central government headquarters and Leung's office, the possibility of an intervention by the mainland authorities, however uncertain, weighs on many minds.

Those fears were reinforced when police deployed tear gas and pepper spray on Sept. 28 in an attempt to disperse the protesters - a strategy that backfired and drew still more people into the streets in sympathy for the non-violent, young activists, leading the authorities to adopt a less confrontational approach.

Repeated warnings and appeals to everyone to go home and stop blocking the roads, issued by Leung and other top officials in recent days have emphasized the government's desire to see the protests end peacefully, while also acknowledging the rights of protesters, and those opposed to the disruptions caused by their lengthy blockades, to peacefully express their views.

The most potent legacy of Tiananmen in Hong Kong, some say, is the passion driving so many of its residents to spend days and nights in the street, risking entanglements with the police and protest opponents, for the sake of attaining the "universal suffrage" they were promised when Beijing claimed control 17 years ago.

"I'm worried about police clearing the site but I'm not scared. Because I won't yield to police violence. After they clear the site, I will come back," said Larry Lai, a 20-year-old college student.

The point, they say, is to ensure their voices are heard.

Jackie Ng, 43, was a first-year university student in the Chinese mainland at the time of the Tiananmen protests. She brought her husband and young son to the protests in Admiralty.

"I was so moved to see this happening in Hong Kong. It reminds me a lot of what happened in 1989," she said.

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Associated Press writers Joanna Chiu and Wendy Tang contributed to this report.


Source : Sapa-AP /ar
Date : 06 Oct 2014 11:35
 
HONG KONG PROTESTS THIN AS TWO SIDES AGREE TO TALK
By SYLVIA HUI and JOANNA CHIU
Associated Press

The crowds of protesters who filled Hong Kong's streets thinned dramatically Tuesday after student leaders and the territory's government agreed the previous night to hold talks in coming days to discuss activists' demands regarding electoral reforms.

Just a couple days after tens of thousands of demonstrators filled the city's streets over the weekend, only a few dozen students - who have formed the core of the protest movement - were holding some stretches of occupied highway and traffic, once again snarling the city's streets.

One young protester sleepily brushed his teeth as rush hour began, spitting into a storm drain along the blockaded six-lane highway that cuts through the heart of Hong Kong's business district. Nearby, a sleeping demonstrator leaned back in a nylon chair, his mouth open and his eyeglasses askew.

Despite the dwindling numbers on the streets, student leaders insisted the movement was far from defeated, and vowed to walk away from negotiations if the police used force to clear away the remaining activists.

"It's up to the government now. This is the first step, but the pressure has to continue," said Alex Chow, a student leader.

Earlier crackdowns have backfired on the government. When police fired tear gas and pepper spray on unarmed demonstrators on Sept. 28, it caused an upsurge in support for protesters and brought tens of thousands of Hong Kong residents into the streets.

The protesters are demanding a wider say in the inaugural 2017 elections for Hong Kong's top official, known as the chief executive, than China's central government is prepared to give them. Beijing, which controls Hong Kong but allows far more liberty here than on the mainland, insists candidates be screened by a committee of mostly pro-Beijing tycoons and other elites, raising fears of communist leaders' tightening grip.

Late Monday, Lau Kong-wah, the territory's undersecretary of constitutional affairs, said the government and students had agreed on terms for talks, saying the two sides would enter discussions on an equal footing.

Lester Shum, a leader of the Hong Kong Federation of Students, confirmed the agreement, but said they had not discussed or reached a consensus on the agenda. A date for the talks had not been set.

On Monday, Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying, who has rejected the protesters' calls for him to resign, said in a TV address that the government would seek "a sincere dialogue on political reform."

At the same time, he urged the end to the blockade of the streets and issued veiled warnings that the authorities would eventually need to "restore social order."

"I hope that the protesters gathering on the roads, especially students and young people, could think this over: While fighting for a better future and democracy for Hong Kong by way of civil disobedience, should you also consider the prolonged disruption caused to the general public by the Occupy Central movement?," he said, referring to one of the protest group's names.

Primary schools in districts that were affected by the protests reopened Tuesday, a day after high school classes resumed. Civil servants returned to work after protesters cleared the area outside the city government headquarters, a focal point of the demonstrations that began Sept. 26. But the city's legislature, located in the same complex, postponed two meetings on Tuesday.

Crowds also thinned markedly at two other protest sites. But traffic slowed to a crawl as drivers jammed nearby roads in the crowded city to divert around the occupation zones.

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Associated Press writers Elaine Kurtenbach contributed to this report.


Source : Sapa-AP /ar
Date : 07 Oct 2014 10:10
 
HK LEADER UNDER PRESSURE TO EXPLAIN AUSTRALIAN WINDFALL

Hong Kong's embattled leader faced growing calls Thursday to explain why he kept large payments from an Australian company secret as democracy activists behind days of mass rallies vowed a "new wave" of civil disobedience.

Parts of the vital financial hub have been paralysed for more than a week by demonstrations calling for Beijing to grant the former British colony full democracy and for the city's Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying to resign.

Under plans unveiled by China in August, Hong Kongers will be able to vote for Leung's successor in 2017, but only two to three vetted candidates will be allowed to stand.

Although protester numbers have dwindled in recent days, small groups still control multiple barricade across the city in what has become the most concerted challenge to Beijing's rule since Hong Kong's handover in 1997.

Pressure intensified on Leung dramatically Thursday with opposition leaders saying he faced a "huge integrity problem" over his failure to declare payments made to him by Australian engineering company UGL.

Australia's Fairfax Media reported Wednesday that Leung received two payments totalling HK$50 million ($6.5 million) from UGL during a deal struck in December 2011 -- months before Leung took office, but a week after he announced his candidacy.

At the time UGL was purchasing the insolvent property services firm DTZ, where Leung was a director and chairman of its regional operations.

It agreed to pay Leung over the next two years not to compete with them, and the contract signed by him showed he agreed to act as an "adviser from time to time".

Opposition lawmakers Thursday expressed their dismay that Leung did not declare the payments to the Hong Kong public once he became leader in July 2012.

"It boils down to a huge integrity problem," pro-democracy lawmaker Claudia Mo told AFP. "Can you imagine Obama being a consultant of some company while being a political leader?"

Another lawmaker, Cyd Ho urged Hong Kong's parliament to investigate the payments and called on Leung to explain himself publicly.

"He should have cut himself off all business affiliations. This time it's a very serious case. A statement cannot explain away all the queries from the public," she said.

The revelation comes as Chinese president Xi Jinping launches a widespread anti-graft crackdown and austerity drive targeting party officials.

Leung has yet to comment publicly on the affair but his office has said he was under no legal obligation to declare the earnings.

In statements to the media, Leung's office said he "has not provided any service to UGL after signing the above agreement" and would only have stayed on as an advisor had he lost his election bid.

UGL said its payments to Leung were staggered after he took office to ensure his "non-compete and non-poach" obligations were met.

The furore comes as student leaders pushing for greater democratic rights are due to meet Leung's deputy Carrie Lam on Friday for crunch talks.

However Occupy Central, one of the main protest networks, said Thursday afternoon a "new wave of civil disobedience" would be announced by all groups involved, raising doubts over whether the talks will go ahead. They are due to hold a press conference at 5pm (0900 GMT).

One pro-democracy lawmaker said on his Facebook account his colleagues in the city's parliament had decided to block any attempts by the government to make new appointments or initiate public works.

"We will use this power we have to support the students' determination," Lee Cheuk-yan he wrote.

Until now the city's pro-democracy lawmakers have largely taken a back seat during the protests, providing moral support but no direct action in the city's legislature.


Source : Sapa-AFP /kd
Date : 09 Oct 2014 11:08
 
HONG KONG STUDENTS REFUSE TO RETREAT, PLAN PROTEST EXPANSION

Hong Kong's student protesters said Thursday they would not retreat from their barricades and will take over new areas in their struggle for full democracy unless the government meets their demands.

"Without a just explanation and concrete ideas of how to settle the current dispute, Hong Kong people will not retreat. And there's no reason for anyone to ask us to retreat. Therefore the Occupy movement must be ongoing," said Alex Chow, president of the Hong Kong Federation of Students told reporters.

"Also the students will go into different occupy areas," he added.

Student leaders are due to meet senior government figures for crunch talks Friday in a bid to end sit-ins that have paralysed parts of the vital financial hub for more than a week.

Chow said he was still serious about the talks but urged the government to be sincere about meeting their demands.

Under plans unveiled by China in August, Hong Kongers will be able to vote for their next leader in 2017, but only two to three vetted candidates will be allowed to stand.

Protesters want that plan rescinded and for the city's current Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying to resign.

Chow's calls came as pro-democracy lawmakers threw their weight behind the ongoing protests saying they would use their powers to disrupt the workings of the Hong Kong government inside the parliament, known as the Legislative Council.

"The pan-democratic camp in the Legislative Council decides to echo the disobedience action outside the council," pro-democracy leader Alan Leong told reporters from the same stage where Chow was speaking.

"Hong Kong has entered an era of disobedience and non-cooperation."

Leong said 23 members of the 70 seat assembly had vowed to join his campaign which would focus on halting new government appointments and any new non-essential public works projects.


Source : Sapa-AFP /kd
Date : 09 Oct 2014 13:04
 
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