Pro-democracy activists marched to China's representative office in the territory yesterday, demanding universal suffrage and accusing Hong Kong's leader of blocking reform.
"Hong Kong is ready and mature enough for direct elections," said Clare Lee, a 29-year-old organizer with the opposition Democratic Party.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Hong Kong's mini-constitution, the Basic Law, holds out the possibility that ordinary residents can elect their next leader in 2007 and all lawmakers by 2008.
But the protesters fear Beijing won't let that happen, and they accuse unpopular Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa (董建華) of blindly backing the central government and thwarting the will of the people.
"He's killing the rights the Hong Kong people should have," said Tam Wai-to, a 44-year-old union leader.
Rally organizers said 200 people joined yesterday's march that started at Hong Kong government headquarters and then headed to the Chinese government's liaison office in the afternoon. Police declined to provide a crowd estimate.
"Fight for democracy," the protesters chanted.
Although Hong Kong people are clamoring for full democracy, Beijing and Tung have indicated they want any progress to come gradually. Critics call that a stalling tactic.
China's most powerful legislative panel, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, ruled earlier this month that Beijing would have to give advance approval for any political changes.
The committee is expected to issue another decision on Monday that critics fear will rule out direct elections for Tung's successor in 2007. Tung was chosen by an 800-strong committee that sides with Beijing.
Tung has weighed in by recommending that Hong Kong change its electoral policies. But he suggested a stringent list of conditions -- including taking Beijing's views into consideration -- that critics say will effectively stop the push for full democracy.
Ordinary citizens get to directly elect some lawmakers, however, and the number rises to 30 out of 60 this September, up from just 24 in the 2000 elections.
A pro-democracy lawmaker said yesterday that Hong Kong's government believes the possibility of direct elections in 2007 and 2008 will be ruled out by Beijing today.
The lawmaker spoke only on condition of anonymity and declined to identify the government official who made that prediction.
Tsang Hin-chi (曾憲梓), a Hong Kong resident and member of the Chinese legislative panel, defended Tung's suggestions on reform. Speaking in Beijing, he said yesterday that Tung's views were based on public consultations in Hong Kong.
KINGPIN: Marset allegedly laundered the proceeds of his drug enterprise by purchasing and sponsoring professional soccer teams and even put himself in the starting lineups Notorious Latin American narco trafficker Sebastian Marset, who eluded police for years, was handed over to US authorities after his arrest on Friday in Bolivia. Marset, a Uruguayan national who was on the US most-wanted list, was passed to agents of the US Drug Enforcement Administration at Santa Cruz airport in Bolivia, then put on a US airplane, Bolivian state television showed. “The arrest and deportation were carried out pursuant to a court order issued by the US justice system,” Bolivian Minister of Government Marco Antonio Oviedo told reporters. The alleged kingpin was arrested in an upscale neighborhood of Santa
FAKE NEWS? ‘When the government demands the press become a state mouthpiece under the threat of punishment, something has gone very wrong,’ a civic group said The top US broadcast regulator on Saturday threatened media outlets over negative coverage of the Middle East war, after US President Donald Trump slammed critical headlines from the “Fake News Media.” The US president since his first term has derided mainstream media as “fake news” and has sued major outlets over what he sees as unfair coverage. Brendan Carr, head of the US Federal Communications Commission — which oversees the nation’s radio, television and Internet media — said broadcasters risked losing their licenses over news coverage. “The law is clear. Broadcasters must operate in the public interest, and they will
SCANDAL: Other images discovered earlier show Andrew bent over a female and lying across the laps of a number of women, while Mandelson is pictured in his underpants A photograph of former British prince Andrew and veteran politician Peter Mandelson sitting in bathrobes alongside late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was unearthed on Friday in previously published documents. The image is believed to be the first known photograph of the two men with Epstein. They are currently engulfed in scandal in the UK over their ties to their mutual friend. The undated photograph, first reported by ITV News, shows King Charles III’s disgraced brother and former British ambassador to the US sitting barefoot outside on a wooden deck. They appear to have mugs with a US flag on them
INFLUTENTIAL THEORIST: Habermas was particularly critical of the ‘limited interest’ shown by German politicians in ‘shaping a politically effective Europe Jurgen Habermas, whose work on communication, rationality and sociology made him one of the world’s most influential philosophers and a key intellectual figure in his native Germany, has died. He was 96. Habermas’ publisher, Suhrkamp, said he died on Saturday in Starnberg, near Munich. Habermas frequently weighed in on political matters over several decades. His extensive writing crossed the boundaries of academic and philosophical disciplines, providing a vision of modern society and social interaction. His best-known works included the two-volume Theory of Communicative Action. Habermas, who was 15 at the time of Nazi Germany’s defeat, later recalled the dawn of
RSS