Thousands of people turned out for a pro-democracy rally in Hong Kong yesterday to demand the right to pick the city's leader and entire legislature in 2012.
More than 2,000 protesters gathered in Victoria Park to open umbrellas to form the numbers 2-0-1-2 in a Hong Kong park before they marched to government headquarters, organizers said.
The demonstration comes days before a three-month consultation period on Hong Kong's political reform ends on Wednesday.
PHOTO: AFP
The government has issued a consultation paper containing various proposals on how and when the city's leader and legislature should be elected.
However, pro-democracy legislators who want direct elections as soon as possible have criticized the document, saying it's confusing to the public because it lists many options.
The former British colony returned to Chinese rule in 1997 but was promised a wide degree of autonomy under a "one country, two systems" formula.
Beijing ruled out granting full democracy to the territory before next year.
Residents of Hong Kong do not have the right to select the territory's leader, who is known as the chief executive.
An election committee that is considered loyal to Beijing, makes the selection.
Only half of the local legislative assembly's 60 lawmakers are directly elected. The rest are picked by special interest groups, such as business and labor unions.
Many Hong Kongers want democracy, but Beijing loyalists -- especially those in the business community -- claim that such political changes would create social upheaval, as well as upset the territory's economy.
"When will Hong Kong have universal suffrage?" asked Cheung Po-meng, 51.
Cheung said Hong Kong should attain full democracy by 2012.
Executive Michael Hui said Hong Kong is a mature city with the wisdom to elect leaders.
"We need to have a good political environment in order to sustain our economic development," he said.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of