Overseas supporters of Hong Kong protesters scrambled to organize solidarity gatherings in L.A.
Hong Kong police in riot gear used pepper spray and batons on students and activists
Three pro-Beijing political parties in Hong Kong condemned students' actions as illegal
A standoff between Hong Kong police and democracy activists occupying a public plaza at the Chinese territory’s main government compound continued into early Sunday despite repeated attempts by officers to disperse the growing crowd. More than 70 people, most of them university and high school students, were arrested.
As midnight passed, tens of thousands of people appeared to be massed in and around the complex. Earlier, police had forcibly removed students who had scaled fences to get into Civic Plaza, which had been cordoned off after another recent protest.
Periodically, police pressed toward protesters using metal barricades. Pockets of demonstrators occasionally broke into chants. “The students are innocent! The students are innocent!” yelled some. “Officers, back off! Back off! Back off!”
The move to occupy the plaza came after thousands of university students skipped classes last week to protest election guidelines issued by top mainland Chinese government authorities for Hong Kong’s 2017 elections.
Demonstrators say the rules will prevent a truly free and fair election for Hong Kong’s chief executive, the highest office in the semi-autonomous territory that was a British colony until 1997.
Among those arrested Saturday was a feisty local lawmaker, Leung Kwok-hung, a.k.a. Long Hair Leung. He and dozens of others were detained after 17-year-old protest leader Joshua Wong, the diminutive but passionate head of a high school activist group, Scholarism, had been dragged off by four officers Friday night. Wong was reportedly denied bail and remained in detention while police searched the apartment he shares with his parents.
“Toward the end of our school boycott last night, we decided to seize the initiative and take back the plaza in order to escalate our action,” said Johnny Chung, 20, a senior member of Scholarism.
Tensions over the 2017 vote have been building for months in Hong Kong, which returned to Chinese sovereignty under a framework known as “one country, two systems.” The territory’s 7 million citizens enjoy significantly greater civil liberties than their counterparts in communist-run mainland China.
Local lawmakers must ratify the final 2017 election rules. Those protesting this weekend are seeking to encourage legislators to reject the framework put forth by Beijing or somehow modify it.
Although Chinese authorities have approved the idea of allowing all Hong Kong citizens to cast ballots for chief executive -- rather than just a 1,200-member committee -- protesters say limits on who can run will ensure that only candidates that Beijing approves of will be allowed to stand for election.
The Hong Kong student strike is expected to be followed by a sit-in by the group Occupy Central with Love and Peace, which plans to rally supporters Wednesday in the city’s financial hub, known as Central. The date is a national holiday marking the 1949 founding of communist China.
Even though a de facto occupy movement seemed to have been set in motion outside the government complex this weekend, Occupy Central organizers said Saturday night that they did not intend to change their plans and move up the start date of their financial district sit-in.
Meanwhile, overseas supporters of the Hong Kong protesters scrambled to organize solidarity gatherings in 13 cities abroad via a Facebook page. In Los Angeles, organizers urged people to gather on Saturday in Rowland Heights and Monterey Park at midday.
Although Hong Kong has seen much bigger rallies, marches and demonstrations in recent years -- some attracting hundreds of thousands of people -- the standoff this weekend was notable for its rancor and use of force by officers. In general, Hong Kong protests tend to be extremely disciplined and orderly.
Although the crowd was predominantly on the younger side, many older citizens came out as well. Some bemoaned the lack of interest in the democracy debate among their peers and said they believe the city’s political future lies with the students.
“I’m most disappointed with the Democrats. Many of [the party’s] former stalwarts are now working for the administration,” said Gary Chan, 51. The investment manager came alone to Saturday’s gathering; most of his friends, he said, don’t care about election issue. “I asked them: ‘Why don’t you care about your own city?’”
Yet, scenes of police in riot gear using pepper spray and batons on unarmed students and activists appeared to motivate sympathetic Hong Kongers to turn out at government headquarters on Saturday. Supporters came bearing food, bottled water and medical equipment, with supplies piling up on the sidewalks.
In a statement issued Saturday, the Hong Kong Police said officers “respect the public's freedoms of expression, speech and assembly.”
But three pro-Beijing political parties in Hong Kong issued a joint statement condemning the students’ actions as illegal.
“In the long haul, the public will only increasingly turn in the students’ favor,” predicted Eric Chong, researcher on local student movements at the Hong Kong Institute of Education. “And this surely will erode the government’s legitimacy, because the public sees it as maintaining its rule by sheer force.”
Law is a special correspondent.
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