Hundreds of student activists camped at major protest sites in Hong Kong last night as the territory’s democracy movement sought to regather momentum after the government called off talks with its leaders aimed at defusing unrest in the global financial hub.
Protests escalated late last month, after Beijing’s decision on Aug. 31 to impose conditions for nominations that would effectively stop pro-democracy candidates from contesting an election of Hong Kong’s chief executive set for 2017.
The “Occupy Central” movement has suffered a noticeable dip in support over the past week, but strong crowds of more than 10,000 returned on Friday evening for a series of rallies in the former British colony.
By yesterday afternoon, many protesters were coming back again to join the stalwarts who had camped overnight.
“Hong Kong is my home, we are fighting for Hong Kong’s future, our future,” said Lawrence Chan, a 23 year-old media studies student, who has participated in the protests from the outset.
Hong Kong Chief Secretary Carrie Lam (林鄭月娥) on Thursday said the government had called off talks with the students because of their persistent calls to escalate action.
Since taking to the streets around two weeks ago, the activists have blockaded major roads around the government precinct in Admiralty district, as well as the shopping districts of Central and Causeway Bay.
At Friday’s rallies, protest leaders urged demonstrators to prepare for a protracted struggle instead of expanding the protests geographically. The protests have led to some resentment among the public due to the resulting traffic jams and loss of business.
It was unclear how long Hong Kong authorities will tolerate the occupation or how the standoff might be resolved. However, for now the police presence remains thin with authorities seemingly reluctant to risk fresh flare-ups.
Riot police had cracked down on protesters massing near the government headquarters on Sept. 28, but the authorities have taken a softer line since.
More than 100 colorful tents were sprinkled across the eight-lane Harcourt Road highway, among scores of red-and-blue portable marquees serving as supply and first aid stations stocked with water, biscuits, noodles and cereals.
“We have tents here to show our determination that we’re prepared for a long term occupation,” said Benny Tai (戴耀廷), one of the leaders of the movement, emerging bleary-eyed yesterday morning from a tent pitched outside the Hong Kong government’s headquarters.
Scores of people ran a marathon in support of the students early yesterday and bridges remained festooned with umbrellas, protest art demanding full democracy and satirical images lampooning Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying (梁振英).
The Occupy Central protests, an idea conceived more than a year ago referring to the Central business district, have presented Beijing with one of its biggest political challenges since it crushed pro-democracy demonstrations in and around Tiananmen Square in the Chinese capital in 1989.
In the first direct public comments by a senior Chinese leader in response to the protests, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (李克強) said Hong Kong authorities had the ability to protect the territory’s economic prosperity and social stability.
Since Britain handed back control in 1997, China has ruled Hong Kong through a “one country, two systems” formula which allows wide-ranging autonomy and freedoms not enjoyed on the mainland and specifies universal suffrage as an eventual goal.
The Chinese Communist Party leadership has dismissed the Hong Kong protests as illegal and has left Leung to find a solution.
Beijing fears that calls for democracy in Hong Kong could spread to the mainland, with China already facing separatist unrest in far-flung Tibet and Xinjiang.
Leung has so far ignored protesters demands for full democracy and their calls for him to quit. Earlier this week, some lawmakers demanded that anti-graft officers investigate a US$6.4 million business payout to Leung, while in office.
Tam Yiu-chung (譚耀宗), the leader of Hong Kong’s largest pro-Beijing political party — the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong — said after a meeting with Leung that while the protests should be cleared as soon as possible, “it is not a simple thing and it is not a ripe time now.”
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