(From left) Zhang Xiaoming, Director of the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in Hong Kong, former Hong Kong Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa and Leung Chun-ying sing national anthem during a flag raising ceremony. — Reuters photo
Little sign of momentum flagging on fifth day of student-led demonstration in Hong Kong’s occupy sections
HONG KONG: Thousands of pro-democracy protesters thronged the streets of Hong Kong yesterday, some of them jeering National Day celebrations, as demonstrations spread to a new area of the city, ratcheting up pressure on the pro-Beijing government.
There was little sign of momentum flagging on the fifth day of the student-led protest, whose aim has been to occupy sections of the city, including around the Central financial district, in anger at a Chinese decision to limit voters’ choices in a 2017 leadership election.
Many had feared police would use force to move crowds before yesterday’s start to celebrations marking the anniversary of the Communist Party’s foundation of the People’s Republic of China in 1949. Those fears proved unfounded.
The crowds have brought large sections of the Asian financial hub to a standstill, disrupting businesses from banks to jewellers. There were no reports of trouble by mid-afternoon yesterday, but witnesses said the number of protesters was swelling.
Riot police used tear gas, pepper spray and baton charges at the weekend to try to quell the unrest but tensions have eased since then as both sides appeared prepared to wait it out, at least for now.
Protests spread from four main areas to Tsim Sha Tsui, a shopping area popular with mainland Chinese visitors on the other side of the harbour. It would usually do roaring trade during the annual National Day holiday.
Underlining nervousness among some activists that provocation on National Day could spark violence, protest leaders urged crowds not to disturb the flag-raising ceremony on the Victoria Harbour waterfront.
Proceedings went ahead peacefully, although scores of students who ringed the ceremony at Bauhinia Square overlooking the harbour booed as the national anthem was played.
A beaming Hong Kong chief executive Leung Chun-ying, who was appointed by Beijing, shook hands with supporters waving the Chinese flag even as protesters who want him to stand down chanted: “We want real democracy.”
“We hope that all sectors of the community will work with the government in a peaceful, lawful, rational and pragmatic manner … and make a big step forward in our constitutional development,” Leung said in a speech.
The Hong Kong and Chinese flags billowed in the wind at the completion of the ceremony but one of the main protest groups said they marked the occasion “with a heavy heart”.
“We are not celebrating the 65th anniversary of China. With the present political turmoil in Hong Kong and the continued persecution of human rights activists in China, I think today is not a day for celebrations but rather a day of sadness,” said Oscar Lai, a spokesman for the student group Scholarism. — Reuters