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Protests Update 2/3Pro-democracy protests are back and support is stronger than last time – risk of escalation to violence is higher as young people are losing patienceGopalan 2/1 [(Divya Gopalan, journalist) Thousands Return To Streets To Protest In Hong Kong, Al Jazeera 2-1-2015] AT Thousands of protesters carrying yellow umbrellas have marched through Hong Kong's main financial district - the scene of the long-running "Occupy Central" sit-in last year. Police were out in force on Sunday as the crowds slowly made their way along the 4-km route from Victoria Park to Central chanting, "We want democracy and the right to choose our own leader". Dozens of people turned up at the march carrying the old colonial flags with the Union Jack in the corner. One person even carried a sign stating that Hong Kong is British. One of the flag carrying protesters told Al Jazeera that it was a statement to show that Hong Kong was not like the rest of China, and should not be treated as such. As demonstrators reached their final destination in one of the richest parts of Hong Kong, founder of the Occupy movement Benny Tai spoke to the crowd, encouraging them to continue the movement. Reminiscent of the two-month sit-in which ended in December, he quoted late artist John Lennon's lyrics, "You may think that I'm a dreamer, but I am not the only one", calling for solidarity. According to the organisers approximately 13,000 people had turned out by the end of the protest. Police put the turnout at an estimated 6600. The turnout was just a fraction of the 50,000 expected, but the range in ages was bigger than the original "occupy" protest, an Al Jazeera reporter at the scene said. More protests planned The Civil Human Rights Front, a collection of NGO’s organised Sunday’s march. Daisy Chan Si-ying, one of the organisers, said that conventional protests attracted fewer people after the occupy movement. She said that if the government did not pay attention to such peaceful gatherings, demonstrators may resort to more "radical" means of resistance. The march marks the first major gathering since protest sites and a tent city blocking Hong Kong island's main highway were cleared in December. Protesters had been calling for more say in how the city's leaders were chosen and for more free elections. Currently Beijing vets any candidates for the territory’s chief executive. At the peak of the demonstrations last year, 100,000 people took to the streets and violent clashes with the police drew the world's attention. Au, a 21-year-old college student, was one of the protesters who slept on Hong Kong's highways for the 79 days of the occupy sit-in. He told Al Jazeera that many of the young people that took part in the protests from September to December did not turn up on Sunday, adding they were still recovering and making plans for a bigger revival of the movement. The government responded to Sunday’s protests with a reminder that they are carrying out a two-month public consultation to gauge the community’s views on issues relating to the chief executive’s election. Legislative councilor Albert Ho called the government’s reaction “nonsense”. He said that Beijing has remained largely silent, and Hong Kong’s government has not made any sincere gestures towards the protesters. He said he was planning to resign from his seat in the Legislative council so that the public would be forced to vote to fill it. In effect, he said, it would trigger a defacto referendum on how the Hong Kong people felt about democracy. Government responses threaten more crackdownsSim 15 [(Shuan Sim, journalist and reporter) Hong Kong Protests Update: Amid Chief Executive Election, Government Warns Against Fresh Demonstrations International Business Times 1-6-2015] AT Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying warned protesters Tuesday that they should cease trying to spark new demonstrations against the city’s ongoing political reform process. Hong Kong has been marked by protests since September 2014 as the city prepares to elect its next leader. Leung stood firm on the city government’s stance that any voting system would stick to the framework Beijing has set for Hong Kong, opting for reconciliation over conflict. "If we really want to implement universal suffrage on 2017, we ... should not do anything that threatens the Hong Kong government or the central government," Leung told reporters. He said that “coercive actions that are illegal or disrupt social order" would not change anything and that the public should take a "legal, rational and pragmatic" approach in expressing opinions, according to Channel News Asia. The city will go through its second round of public consultation on Wednesday to select the next chief executive. Protests began back in September when mainland China announced its decision to enact political reform in Hong Kong, effectively allowing the city to elect its own leader. This will be the first time that Hong Kong gets to do so, having previously been under British rule and currently under mainland China’s administration. While China has pledged to allow Hong Kong that freedom, the candidates must first be vetted by its committee. Pro-democracy lawmakers and protesters have claimed that such a process does not reflect public sentiment. Lawmaker Kwok Ka-ki said the consultation would be a “large-scale propaganda exercise.” “Those coming from the democratic camp will be able to enter (as candidates), but they will never be able to be selected for election,” Kwok told Agence France-Presse, according to Channel News Asia. "The government will try to create an impression that we have a lot of room to discuss how candidates of different persuasions can enter the race, but the nominating committee will still do the gatekeeping," political analyst Ma Ngok said. Protests camps were cleared in December, and the courts put forth applications on Monday to formally charge more than 30 activists for obstruction of justice and unlawful assembly when the police tried to clear protest camps in November. Key leaders have been asked to turn themselves in, including student activists Alex Chow and Joshua Wong. The Hong Kong police had been criticized for using tear gas against what was largely a peaceful protest. The government defended its decision, saying that it was in response to violent protesters, according to the Wall Street Journal. Directory: file -> view view -> Western Europe after wwii view -> Author study: paul fleischman view -> Qpa1 7ela study Guide view -> Arctic Oil/Gas Neg view -> November 1970 Approximately 150,000-500,000 deaths Bhola Cyclone Bangladesh view -> Grade Level: 6 Unit of Study: Caribbean glce view -> Citation: Duffield, Katy view -> Table of Contents Lesson # view -> Chinese Wind Energy Disad Download 1.87 Mb. Share with your friends:
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