Tensions in Hong Kong soared yesterday after police were seen unloading boxes of tear gas and rubber bullets close to the territory’s besieged government headquarters as the authorities urged pro-democracy demonstrators to disperse “as soon as possible.”
Protesters have shut down central areas of the territory with a mass sit-in, including outside the Legislative Council building, and had given Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying (梁振英) until midnight last night to step down, or face escalated action.
China backed the territory’s embattled leader, saying it was behind Leung “firmly and unshakably” and pledged support for the police as protesters prepared for a fifth night on the barricades.
Photo: AFP
Days of peaceful demonstrations have seen tens of thousands of people take over Hong Kong’s usually traffic-heavy streets as they demand Beijing grant fully free elections in the semi-autonomous territory.
Last month, China said Hong Kongers would be able to vote for their next leader in 2017, but only those vetted by a loyalist committee would be allowed to stand — something demonstrators have dismissed as a “fake democracy.”
Hong Kong authorities said yesterday they wanted the streets cleared around the government headquarters, with more than 3,000 civil servants expected to return to the headquarters after a two-day public holiday.
In a statement, officials called on protesters “not to block the access there and to disperse peacefully as soon as possible.”
The late afternoon resupply by police officers caused widespread alarm among protesters as their leaders issued fresh calls for people to swell their ranks.
Pictures shared widely on social media and television showed one barrel with the words “round, 38mm rubber baton multi” written on it. Another had “1.5 in CS” emblazoned on it, a possible reference to CS gas.
The Chinese Communist Party has shown no sign of bowing to protesters’ twin demands. An editorial in party mouthpiece the People’s Daily yesterday warned against chaos in the territory, adding that Beijing supported “the police of the special territory in handling these illegal protests according to the law.”
The demonstrators consider Leung a Beijing stooge and protest leaders wanted yesterday’s ultimatum to be met.
“We will consider having different operating actions in future days, including occupying other places, like important government offices,” said Agnes Chow (周庭) of the student movement Scholarism.
Analysts say it is unlikely that Leung will step down, in what would be a massive loss of face for the establishment.
“If Beijing forces him to resign, they will be seen to be buckling under pressure from the protesters. They might give out signals that he has been sidelined, but the likelihood of his immediate dismissal... is not very high,” said Willy Lam (林和立), Chinese University of Hong Kong professor.
However, Lam added that the longer the protests affect Hong Kong, the more pressure Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) would be under to act.
Super Typhoon Kong-rey is the largest cyclone to impact Taiwan in 27 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. Kong-rey’s radius of maximum wind (RMW) — the distance between the center of a cyclone and its band of strongest winds — has expanded to 320km, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. The last time a typhoon of comparable strength with an RMW larger than 300km made landfall in Taiwan was Typhoon Herb in 1996, he said. Herb made landfall between Keelung and Suao (蘇澳) in Yilan County with an RMW of 350km, Chang said. The weather station in Alishan (阿里山) recorded 1.09m of
NO WORK, CLASS: President William Lai urged people in the eastern, southern and northern parts of the country to be on alert, with Typhoon Kong-rey approaching Typhoon Kong-rey is expected to make landfall on Taiwan’s east coast today, with work and classes canceled nationwide. Packing gusts of nearly 300kph, the storm yesterday intensified into a typhoon and was expected to gain even more strength before hitting Taitung County, the US Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center said. The storm is forecast to cross Taiwan’s south, enter the Taiwan Strait and head toward China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The CWA labeled the storm a “strong typhoon,” the most powerful on its scale. Up to 1.2m of rainfall was expected in mountainous areas of eastern Taiwan and destructive winds are likely
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday at 5:30pm issued a sea warning for Typhoon Kong-rey as the storm drew closer to the east coast. As of 8pm yesterday, the storm was 670km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and traveling northwest at 12kph to 16kph. It was packing maximum sustained winds of 162kph and gusts of up to 198kph, the CWA said. A land warning might be issued this morning for the storm, which is expected to have the strongest impact on Taiwan from tonight to early Friday morning, the agency said. Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) and Green Island (綠島) canceled classes and work
KONG-REY: A woman was killed in a vehicle hit by a tree, while 205 people were injured as the storm moved across the nation and entered the Taiwan Strait Typhoon Kong-rey slammed into Taiwan yesterday as one of the biggest storms to hit the nation in decades, whipping up 10m waves, triggering floods and claiming at least one life. Kong-rey made landfall in Taitung County’s Chenggong Township (成功) at 1:40pm, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The typhoon — the first in Taiwan’s history to make landfall after mid-October — was moving north-northwest at 21kph when it hit land, CWA data showed. The fast-moving storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 184kph, with gusts of up to 227kph, CWA data showed. It was the same strength as Typhoon Gaemi, which was the most
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