A Hong Kong activist who promotes independence from China and was involved in recent street battles with police stood for office yesterday in a key by-election that highlights the territory’s political fault lines.
Edward Leung (梁天琦), 24, one of the leaders of “localist” group Hong Kong Indigenous, is vying to become a legislator after a prominent pro-democracy politician stepped down.
Leung is taking on six other contenders for the New Territories East seat, including candidates from pro-Beijing and pro-democracy camps.
Photo: EPA
Since massive rallies in 2014 calling for fully free leadership elections failed to win concessions from Beijing, young protesters like Leung have become increasingly disillusioned with the more established pro-democracy parties.
Smaller groups have emerged under a “localist” banner, pushing for greater autonomy and even independence from China, as fears over interference from Beijing grow.
Their frustrations spilt over into violence earlier this month when running street battles left more than 100 injured after masked protesters hurled bricks at police, who fired warning shots in the air.
Leung is facing a rioting charge for his involvement.
“Hongkongers are the masters of their own soil,” Leung said yesterday.
“I will defend Hong Kong people’s interests and Hong Kong people’s rights,” he told reporters.
Leung is not tipped to win, but his candidacy would be a barometer of how much support the fledgling localist movement can garner at the ballot box.
“I voted for him. We need to speak out about what’s happening,” a 56-year-old engineer surnamed Cheung said. “It’s completely understandable that young people want change.”
Others urged calm.
“We should not be radical,” a 40-year-old voter surnamed Yeung said.
“Any problems should be dealt with peacefully and rationally,” she said.
Observers said Alvin Yeung (楊岳橋) of the established pro-democracy Civic Party or Holden Chow (周浩鼎) of the pro-Beijing Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong are most likely to win.
Police in China detained dozens of pastors of one of its largest underground churches over the weekend, a church spokesperson and relatives said, in the biggest crackdown on Christians since 2018. The detentions, which come amid renewed China-US tensions after Beijing dramatically expanded rare earth export controls last week, drew condemnation from US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who on Sunday called for the immediate release of the pastors. Pastor Jin Mingri (金明日), founder of Zion Church, an unofficial “house church” not sanctioned by the Chinese government, was detained at his home in the southern city of Beihai on Friday evening, said
Floods on Sunday trapped people in vehicles and homes in Spain as torrential rain drenched the northeastern Catalonia region, a day after downpours unleashed travel chaos on the Mediterranean island of Ibiza. Local media shared videos of roaring torrents of brown water tearing through streets and submerging vehicles. National weather agency AEMET decreed the highest red alert in the province of Tarragona, warning of 180mm of rain in 12 hours in the Ebro River delta. Catalan fire service spokesman Oriol Corbella told reporters people had been caught by surprise, with people trapped “inside vehicles, in buildings, on ground floors.” Santa Barbara Mayor Josep Lluis
The Venezuelan government on Monday said that it would close its embassies in Norway and Australia, and open new ones in Burkina Faso and Zimbabwe in a restructuring of its foreign service, after weeks of growing tensions with the US. The closures are part of the “strategic reassignation of resources,” Venezueland President Nicolas Maduro’s government said in a statement, adding that consular services to Venezuelans in Norway and Australia would be provided by diplomatic missions, with details to be shared in the coming days. The Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that it had received notice of the embassy closure, but no
A missing fingertip offers a clue to Mako Nishimura’s criminal past as one of Japan’s few female yakuza, but after clawing her way out of the underworld, she now spends her days helping other retired gangsters reintegrate into society. The multibillion-dollar yakuza organized crime network has long ruled over Japan’s drug rings, illicit gambling dens and sex trade. In the past few years, the empire has started to crumble as members have dwindled and laws targeting mafia are tightened. An intensifying police crackdown has shrunk yakuza forces nationwide, with their numbers dipping below 20,000 last year for the first time since records