Courtesy of Mish.
Protests in Hong Kong entered the 5th day with no sign of letup.
The protest movement followed a controversial decision in which candidates for chief executive of Hong Kong in the 2017 elections be made by a committee, rather that a general election. Election by committee is billed as “election reform”.
Protests intensified after police used teargas in an attempt to disperse student protesters. Pro-democracy protesters now number in the hundreds of thousands. The protesters demand a free election and the resignation of Hong Kong’s current chief executive CY Leung.
This is the greatest mass protest in China since the Tiananmen Square Protests of 1989.
Beacon of Hope
Bloomberg comments on Hong Kong Autonomy
Hong Kong is an island of free speech and civil liberties in an authoritarian sea. It is not, however, a democracy. Hong Kong citizens have never had the power to choose their top leader, neither as part of China since 1997 nor as an outpost of the British Empire for 156 years before that. Now the prospect of the first direct election of a chief executive in 2017 is increasing the tension between Hong Kong’s yearning for autonomy and China’s for loyalty.
Tensions Mount
The Financial Times reports Tension Mounts in Hong Kong as Police Mass.
The stand-off between the authorities and demonstrators calling for the resignation of Hong Kong’s chief executive CY Leung had continued for a fifth day ahead of the midnight deadline given by demonstrators for Mr Leung to stand down.
The huge protests have been going on since Sunday as crowds flocked to join the democracy movement calling on China to reverse course on a controversial plan for electoral reform in the territory.
On Thursday night students blocked a road to Mr Leung’s office as they prepared to escalate their campaign, while the road to the chief executive’s office in the Central district was cordoned off at both ends by the police.
Hong Kong Leaders Will Open Talks With Protesters
Bloomberg reports Hong Kong Leaders Will Open Talks With Protesters.
Hong Kong’s top official Leung Chun-ying appointed his deputy Carrie Lam to hold talks with leaders of pro-democracy protesters who have crippled parts of the city for the past week….
