Rush-hour traffic yesterday streamed through the heart of Hong Kong for the first time in more than two months after police cleared the territory’s main pro-democracy protest camp with mass arrests, but activists vowed that their struggle would continue.
The east-west artery through the business district had been blocked since September by the sprawling protest site, in a campaign that demonstrators say has changed the territory’s vexed relationship with Beijing and which has polarized public opinion.
Police swept through the Admiralty site on Thursday, clearing the multilane highway and arresting more than 200 protesters.
Photo: AFP
The demonstrators are calling for fully free elections for the territory’s leader in 2017, but Beijing has insisted a loyalist committee vet the candidates, which protesters say would ensure the selection of a pro-China stooge.
Demonstrators say their lengthy occupation has put the democracy movement on the map with Beijing and the local administration, after it brought parts of the territory to a standstill and saw tens of thousands on the streets at its height.
However, it has achieved no political concessions from either Hong Kong’s leaders or Beijing, who both branded the protests “illegal.”
Protest leaders said they would continue to push for reform.
“If we fight a long war we definitely do not have the ... resources the government has,” teenage student leader Joshua Wong said on Thursday.
Instead the movement needed to galvanize the support of young voters, many of whom engaged in politics for the first time during the mass protests.
“If we win the support of the young people regarding democracy ... there is a greater chance to achieve universal suffrage,” Wong said.
“If the problem of political reform is not handled appropriately, I believe [that in] the next phase there will be new resistance actions,” Occupy Central campaign group leader Benny Tai (戴耀廷) said.
Tai handed himself in to police last week in a symbolic bid to get the protests off the street in the wake of violent clashes, only to be turned away without being charged or arrested.
Analysts said the pro-democracy movement — from students to legislators — would have to become more coherent if it is to achieve any political concessions.
“They need to pull together to create a viable coalition of stakeholders,” Chinese University of Hong Kong political analyst Willy Lam said. “They need to act together to lobby and negotiate with the [Hong Kong] administration and Beijing. That would also give the Hong Kong people the impression that they speak with one voice and are much more organized.”
Public support for the movement waned as the weeks of protests wore on and the campaign splintered in different directions.
Some in Admiralty yesterday expressed their support for the police clearance action.
“I think it was correct, because they broke the law,” said one 46-year-old civil servant, who gave his name as George.
However, others expressed disappointment and the need for the movement to continue.
“I am so depressed it’s gone,” 34-year-old Kim Lo said. “I think now we have to sit down and think what we want. We need to spread the message, to help the seed grow. I don’t think we should go back on the streets yet.”
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
THUGGISH BEHAVIOR: Encouraging people to report independence supporters is another intimidation tactic that threatens cross-strait peace, the state department said China setting up an online system for reporting “Taiwanese independence” advocates is an “irresponsible and reprehensible” act, a US government spokesperson said on Friday. “China’s call for private individuals to report on alleged ‘persecution or suppression’ by supposed ‘Taiwan independence henchmen and accomplices’ is irresponsible and reprehensible,” an unnamed US Department of State spokesperson told the Central News Agency in an e-mail. The move is part of Beijing’s “intimidation campaign” against Taiwan and its supporters, and is “threatening free speech around the world, destabilizing the Indo-Pacific region, and deliberately eroding the cross-strait status quo,” the spokesperson said. The Chinese Communist Party’s “threats
RSS