Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters were thin on the ground yesterday, ahead of a possible mid-week clearance of the main camp site straddling downtown arteries, testing the patience of residents and commuters for more than two months.
Joshua Wong (黃之鋒), one of the key student leaders, said his group would maintain the principle of non-violence during the clearance of the protest site in Admiralty, home to government offices and next to the main Central business district.
Court bailiffs and police are expected to move in from tomorrow, media have said.
“Clearance is a matter of time,” said a man surnamed Chan, 69, who helped build and maintain the students’ study area at the site. “We will continue until the last moment and then we will walk away.”
The protesters are demanding a free vote for the leader of Hong Kong, a former British colony that returned to Chinese rule in 1997.
Under a “one country, two systems” formula, Hong Kong has some autonomy from the Chinese Communist Party-ruled mainland and a promise of eventual universal suffrage. Beijing has allowed a vote in the next election in 2017, but insists on screening any candidates first.
Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying (梁振英) over the weekend again rejected calls for new consultation over political reform and told protesters not to use violence when the clearance starts.
About 100 protesters were milling around Admiralty yesterday. Most of the tents were empty with tourists taking photographs of the artwork and posters hung up around the site.
Some radical groups are expected to try to hold their ground.
“It is not a matter of resistance, but sometimes it is self-defense,” 27-year-old protester Platt Ho said.
Police have been accused of using excessive force on the protesters after the use of tear gas in September.
Over the weekend, hundreds marched to protest police brutality while a group of about 30 people gathered to express their support for officers and the handling of the protests, RTHK radio reported.
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
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
IN PURSUIT: Israel’s defense minister said the revenge attacks by Israeli settlers would make it difficult for security forces to find those responsible for the 14-year-old’s death Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday condemned the “heinous murder” of an Israeli teenager in the occupied West Bank as attacks on Palestinian villages intensified following news of his death. After Benjamin Achimeir, 14, was reported missing near Ramallah on Friday, hundreds of Jewish settlers backed by Israeli forces raided nearby Palestinian villages, torching vehicles and homes, leaving at least one villager dead and dozens wounded. The attacks escalated in several villages on Saturday after Achimeir’s body was found near the Malachi Hashalom outpost. Agence France-Presse correspondents saw smoke rising from burned houses and fields. Mayor Amin Abu Alyah, of the