By J.R. Wu and Katy Wong for Reuters – Tens of thousands of people gathered in Hong Kong on Sunday for a candlelight vigil to mark the 28th anniversary of China’s crackdown on pro-democracy protests in and around Beijing’s Tianamen Square, while Taiwan urged China to make a transition to full democracy. Nearly three decades after Beijing sent tanks and troops to quell the 1989 student-led protests, Chinese authorities ban any public commemoration of the event on the mainland and have yet to release an official death toll. Estimates from human rights groups and witnesses range from several hundred to several thousand killed. Hong Kong, a former British colony that returned to Chinese rule in 1997, is the only place on Chinese soil where a large-scale commemoration takes place, symbolizing the financial hub’s relative freedoms compared with the mainland. This year’s events are especially politically charged, coming just a month before an expected visit of President Xi Jinping to mark 20 years since Hong Kong was handed back to China. “When Xi Jinping comes, he’ll know the people of Hong Kong have not forgotten,” Lee Cheuk-yan, an organizer of the annual candlelight vigil, said.
By Donny Kwok and Clare Baldwin for Reuters – Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement got a boost on Monday with about eight candidates involved in crippling protests last year winning office at district-level elections, while some veterans from both sides of the political divide suffered defeat. The election of the so-called Umbrella Soldiers – named after the 2014 demonstrations in which activists used umbrellas to guard against tear gas and pepper spray – reflects continued support for political change in the Chinese-ruled city. “The paratroopers are the new force,” said James Sung, a political analyst at the City University of Hong Kong, referring to candidates inspired by the Umbrella movement.
By Jeffie Lam and Stuart Lau in South China Morning Post – Occupy organisers and protesters vowed yesterday to involve the wider community in their fight for greater democracy, looking to coming elections as the key battleground, as they marked the first anniversary of last year’s mass sit-ins. There was a strong sense of déjà vu near government headquarters in Tamar as hundreds returned to the site they had occupied for 79 days. They formed a sea of yellow umbrellas again, chanting the familiar slogan, “I want genuine universal suffrage”. But the mood was more subdued and reflective than aggressive, while police were out in force to prevent any violence or reoccupation of roads in Admiralty.
By Vivienne Chow in SCMP – An exhibition of iconic objects collected from the sites of last year’s Occupy protests will open on Saturday, two days before the first anniversary of the start of the pro-democracy movement. Hereafter: Objects from the Umbrella Movement will showcase 60 objects out of a total of 380 pieces collected from protest sites in Admiralty, Causeway Bay and Mong Kok. The organisers, Umbrella Movement Visual Archive, said they retrieved the objects before police began clearance operations in December to end the 79-day sit-ins. Sampson Wong Yu-hin, one of the organisers, said the passion and creative energy of the protests were unprecedented, and the objects served as a snapshot of the movement.
By Wen Yuqing and Xin Lin in Radio Free Asia – The face of last year’s pro-democracy Occupy Central movement in Hong Kong, Joshua Wong, hit out on Thursday after being charged by police for his role in the mass protests for universal suffrage in the former British colony. Wong, 18, who could face a jail term of up to five years, slammed the charges of “illegal assembly” and “inciting others to take part in an illegal assembly” as politically motivated. The charges relate to a protest on Sept. 26 during which some Umbrella Movement protesters climbed into Civic Square, part of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) government complex. Writing on his Facebook page, Wong said that the freedom of association, among a number of traditional freedoms that Beijing promised to uphold after the 1997 handover to Chinese rule, has been severely limited in the city in recent years.
By Tony Cheung and Joyce Ng in SCMP – Student leader Joshua Wong Chi-fung and three other activists are set to be charged with obstructing police officers during a protest outside the central government’s liaison office last summer. They say the move by police, more than a year after the protest took place, appears like a political prosecution. In a WhatsApp message to the media yesterday, Wong, convenor of student group Scholarism, said he was at the airport checking in for a morning flight to Japan to go on holiday when he received a telephone call from Western District crime squad. He was told to report to police by Thursday, when he would be charged. He was accused of obstructing officers in carrying out their duty at a protest outside the liaison office in Western on June 11 last year.
By Chris Lau in SCMP – An Occupy activist who previously told a court that he would not forgive himself if he moved was fined HK$3,000 in Eastern Court today for refusing to leave a road divider during a clearance operation in Admiralty last year. Handing down the fine on taxi driver Yeung Tak-wah, magistrate Lee Siu-ho said: “I understand that your motive stemmed from some thoughts and a strong belief you had over some matters.” At the time of the offence, Yeung was protesting against the city’s restrictive political reform framework handed down by the National People’s Congress Standing Committee on August 31 last year. “But at the same time, you have to consider the rights and freedoms of others,” Lee added. Yeung, 55, who represented himself in court, pleaded not guilty earlier to one count of obstructing a police officer.
It has been 200 days since tens of thousands of Hong Kongers flooded the city’s streets demanding the right to freely elect their own leader, and 126 days since the police unceremoniously cleared the tent-filled villages after almost three months of occupation. The movement for democracy has largely been relegated to online forums and abstract discussions, but that isn’t the only place it resides. The handful of tents that remained in front of the Central Government Offices even after the Dec. 16 clearance has steadily grown over the past three months. Currently, 146 fabric shelters line the sidewalks of Tim Mei Avenue, where the use of pepper spray and arrest of student protesters on Sept. 27 was the spark that set the movement ablaze.
Pro-democracy protesters are gathering at the site of Occupy Central’s main camp to commemorate six months since the mass sit-ins began last year. A tent community has been slowly expanding on the pavement outside the Admiralty government headquarters since police cleared Occupy’s base camp on Harcourt Road and the adjoining roads in December, ending the 79-day mass sit-in. The latest feature is a “study room”, which started to fully function three days ago. With seven benches, lit by fluorescent tubes powered by charging packs, the corner is a smaller version of Occupy’s study room on Harcourt Road at the height of the protests.
The Occupy protests were “an orchestrated Hong Kong version of a colour revolution” and Beijing’s response should serve as a warning to advocates for Taiwan’s independence, according to General Sun Jianguo, a deputy chief of the General Staff of the People’s Liberation Army. “Hostile forces have always attempted to make Hong Kong the bridgehead for subverting and infiltrating mainland China,” Sun said. “The illegal Occupy Central activities in 2014 came as minority radical groups in Hong Kong, under the instigation and support of external forces … orchestrated a Hong Kong version of a colour revolution.” He said the central government had shown firm support for the Hong Kong government in dealing with the protests, and that Beijing’s defence of “one country, two systems” should also serve as a warning to Taiwan’s pro-independence forces. Joseph Cheng Yu-shek, chair professor of public policy at City University, said Sun’s remarks “definitely reflect the central government’s stance”.
Were Hong Kong’s street demonstrations a movie, the director’s chair would certainly be placed in Washington D.C. Several independent researchers have exposed the shockingly large number of direct links between funding and political backing from Washington and nearly every prominent leader organizing street demonstrations in Hong Kong. The yellow umbrellas winding through Hong Kong’s streets, whose numbers are inflated by American and British media’s expert use of tight angles and close ups, could be considered “take two.” Take one wasn’t fit for Washington’s vision for Hong Kong, which is ironic considering the protests claim to be fighting for Hong Kong’s self-determination. Regardless, the last round of protests fared poorly, with the majority of Hong Kong’s residents turning on protesters who blocked roads for weeks, hurting local businesses and disrupting the lives, peace, and prosperity of the majority. A loud, disruptive minority, disrupting the peace and prosperity of the majority, all while shouting “pro-democratic” slogans presents another irony and one that seems lost on some.
Turnout for the first major pro-democracy march of the post-Occupy era fell well short of expectations yesterday – but organisers rejected suggestions people were growing less determined about the fight for democracy. Rather it was a sign Hongkongers no longer had faith in “conventional ways” of protesting, Civil Human Rights Front convenor Daisy Chan Sin-ying said. She said more “alternative” forms of civil disobedience could emerge unless the government heeded public opinion on “genuine democracy”. The front put turnout for the march from Victoria Park in Causeway Bay to Central at 13,000. Independent academics put the turnout at 11,000 to 12,000, while police said 6,600 left the park, with a peak turnout of 8,800.
The original founders of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy Occupy movement were arrested and released Saturday as the city’s police chief defended the investigation into mass protests, saying it was not “a show”. A number of protest leaders have been arrested and released without charge, with some calling the investigation harassment. Occupy founder Benny Tai said that he, Chan Kin-man and Chu Yiu-ming had been formally arrested on accusations of organising and participating in an illegal assembly, but were not charged. They were released after three hours. “Three of us were showed some videos and articles… we were released unconditionally,” he said.
Hong Kong’s government canceled the chief executive’s town hall meetings for the first time over concerns about potential public unrest spurred by pro-democracy protests that ended last month. Leung Chun-ying’s meet-the-people sessions were called off due to the situation and atmosphere in the city when they were scheduled, a spokesman for Leung’s office, who asked that his name not be used per office policy, said by phone. The meetings have been held at least three times annually over the previous five years to gauge public opinion ahead of the annual policy address and budget release.
More than 30 key figures of civil disobedience face prosecution after police initiated their first post-Occupy Central arrests yesterday over the mass sit-ins for democracy. At least four pan-democratic party leaders-cum-lawmakers are on a list of people the police force is inviting to help with the investigations. The Civic Party’s Alan Leong Kah-kit, Labour Party’s Lee Cheuk-yan and League of Social Democrats’ Leung Kwok-hung were among those requested to visit police headquarters in Wan Chai, according to a police source. Once there, the source said, they would be arrested for instigating, organising or aiding and abetting an unlawful assembly over the 79-day protests.
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