Tuesday, September 30, 2014

they doont want their children to be deformed

PAULA BRONSTEIN / GETTY IMAGES3 hours

Hong Kong Protesters Vow to Fight 'Forever' as Officials Ignore Demands

BY ED FLANAGAN

HONG KONG — A midnight deadline imposed by pro-democracy protesters came and went Tuesday without Hong Kong's leader responding to their demands — but members of the mostly student-led "Umbrella Revolution" movement vowed to stay as long as it takes.

"At this stage, we’re going forever. We'll fight to the end." protester Gary Lee, 20, told NBC News. "We just want peace. We don't need any violence, we don't need any pepper spraying here, we don't need any cops here. Just us (speaking) to the public: I want freedom, I want to vote to achieve a leader."

Lee said if the protesters don't stand up now "the next generation will be destroyed."

Hong Kong Protester Vows ‘Fight To The End’

NBC NEWS

Swarms of young Hong Kong residents were filling the streets still on Tuesday at midnight (12 p.m. ET) with estimates of up to 100,000 people protesting. The protesters want a reversal of a decision by China's central government in Beijing to screen all candidates in the Hong Kong's first direct elections — scheduled for 2017.

"We are not afraid of riot police, we are not afraid of tear gas, we are not afraid of pepper spray."

They believe the maneuver was a broken promise that the territory's next chief executive would be chosen through "universal suffrage." Current Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying's rejection of the protesters' demands meant there would be no quick resolution of the five-day standoff that has blocked city streets and forced some schools and offices to close.

"We are not afraid of riot police, we are not afraid of tear gas, we are not afraid of pepper spray," Lester Shum, another student leader, shouted to a crowd in the Admiralty, near Hong Kong's waterfront. "We will not leave until Leung Chun-ying resigns. We will not give up! We will persevere until the end!"

The protests have been dubbed the "Umbrella Revolution" by some because the crowds have used umbrellas to block the sun and to deflect police pepper spray.

"We are really basically just calling for the government to speak with us but they've been mute," Peter Chin, a 22-year-old student at Hong Kong University. "We'll keep staying here until they're ready to consult with us."

Britain's deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, meanwhile, said Tuesday that he had summoned the Chinese ambassador to discuss the dispute, saying it was essential that Hong Kong's people have a genuine right to choose their top leader.

"I am extremely concerned about the recent events in Hong Kong. Britain and China have solemn obligations to the people of Hong Kong to preserve their rights and freedoms," Clegg said in a statement.

One American bystander in the Admiralty area noted the irony of the large pro-democracy protests.

"I would never see this in a city in the USA, because any main city with these kind of roads blocked off ... it would be nipped in the bud, it would be pushed into a park," Matthew Sexton, of Philadelphia, told NBC News. "People would tear gas in a second, I mean, American police are much more heavy handed than this."

Monday, September 29, 2014

this is how to construct a skewed in favor of the status quo even in light of the evil CCP

'Umbrella Revolution' Protests Spread In Hong Kong

| By KELVIN CHAN

Posted: 09/29/2014 7:23 am EDT Updated: 4 minutes ago

HONG KONG (AP) -- Hong Kong's police on Monday defended their use of tear gas and other tactics to control protests that have paralyzed the city's financial district, appealing to the thousands gathered to demand more democracy to stop the unprecedented mass act of civil disobedience for the sake of safety and stability.

Crowds grew Monday evening as people getting off work joined weary-looking students camped on major roads near the city's government headquarters and in several other parts of the city. Uniformed police manned barricades and looked on, preventing access to some buildings, but did not otherwise intervene.

Police said they used 87 rounds of tear gas on Sunday in what they said was a necessary but restrained response to protesters' efforts to push through cordons and barricades. They said 41 people were injured, including 12 police officers.

"Police cordon lines were heavily charged, by some violent protesters. So police had to use the minimum force in order to separate the distance at that moment between the protesters and also the police," Cheung Tak-keung, the assistant police commissioner for operations, told reporters Monday.

Pro-democracy demonstrators hold up their mobile phones during a protest near the Hong Kong government headquarters on September 29, 2014. (DALE de la REY/AFP/Getty Images)

Protesters donned rain capes, surgical masks and goggles, wrapped their heads and glasses in plastic and used umbrellas to shield themselves from the searing clouds of tear gas unleashed by police on Sunday. Each time they fled, but returned in defiance. Late Sunday, riot police withdrew and Hong Kong's chief executive, Leung Chun-ying, issued a public appeal for everyone to go home and stop blocking traffic.

Across Victoria Harbor, in crowded Kowloon, crowds blocked a major intersection, as young people climbed atop subway station exits and activists rallied the crowds.

While many Hong Kong residents support the calls for greater democracy -- dubbed the "umbrella revolution" by some although the crowds' demands fall far short of revolution -- the unrest worries others.

"I strongly disagree with the protesters," said an older woman who gave only her surname, Chan. "Those of us who came to the city 60 or 70 years ago had nothing and we worked and suffered so much to make Hong Kong the rich city it is today. And now the protesters have made our society unstable. For me, being able to eat and sleep is already a luxury. I don't need democracy. What does it mean?"

Riot police launch tear gas into the crowd as thousands of protesters surround the government headquarters in Hong Kong Sunday, Sept. 28, 2014. (AP Photo/Wally Santana)

Many younger Hong Kong residents have much higher expectations. Raised in an era of plenty and with no experience of the political turmoil of past decades in mainland China, they are demanding universal suffrage and protesting Beijing's decision last month that candidates in the city's first-ever election for the top leader must be hand-picked by a committee of mostly pro-Beijing tycoons, a move many residents of the former British colony view as reneging on promises to allow greater democracy in the semi-autonomous territory.

China has called the protests illegal and endorsed the Hong Kong government's efforts to quell the demonstrations, which are undermining the city's image as a safe financial haven. Beijing has taken a hard line against a variety of threats to the Communist Party's monopoly on power, including clamping down on dissidents and Muslim Uighur separatists in the country's far west.

The Hong Kong authorities' efforts to shut down the protest so far have backfired, said Steve Tsang, a senior fellow at the University of Nottingham's China Policy Institute.

"People are feeling a kind of guilt that they were allowing the young kids in their late teens and early 20s to take all the risks, so people are coming out to support them. That's what we are seeing on the ground," he said.

While Hong Kong was under British rule, its leader was chosen by London in an arrangement that faced virtually no opposition. After China took control from the British in 1997, it agreed to a policy of "one country, two systems" that allowed the city a high degree of control over its own affairs and kept in place liberties unseen on the mainland. It also promised the city's leader would eventually be chosen through "universal suffrage," a pledge that Hong Kongers now say Beijing is failing to keep.

A police car is blocked by protesters after thousands of people block a main road to the financial central district outside the government headquarters in Hong Kong, Sunday, Sept. 28, 2014. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu)

The protests began a week ago with a class boycott by university and college students, who said they would stand firm until officials meet their demands for reforming the local legislature and withdrawing the requirement that election candidates be screened.

Leaders of the broader Occupy Central civil disobedience movement joined them early Sunday, saying they wanted to kick-start a long-threatened mass sit-in demanding Hong Kong's top leader be elected without Beijing's interference.

Occupy Central issued a statement Monday urging Leung to resign and saying his "non-response to the people's demands has driven Hong Kong into a crisis of disorder." It said the protest is now "a spontaneous movement" of all Hong Kong people.

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Associated Press writers Elaine Kurtenbach, Louise Watt and Joanna Chiu contributed to this report.

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Follow Kelvin Chan on Twitter at twitter.com/chanman

Saturday, September 27, 2014

Democracy Protests In Hong Kong Heat Up

Reuters

Posted: 09/27/2014 10:31 am EDT Updated: 47 minutes ago

By Yimou Lee and James Pomfret

HONG KONG, Sept 27 (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of people massed in the heart of Hong Kong late on Saturday to demand more democracy, as tensions grew over Beijing's decision to rule out free elections in the former British colony.

The crowds swelled less than 24 hours after riot police used pepper spray to disperse protesters around government headquarters, arresting more than 60 people opposed to the Chinese government's tightening grip on the city.

The unrest underscores the obstacles China faces in Hong Kong as a restive younger generation challenges its influence over the densely-populated financial hub.

One protester said she had joined the protests to secure a better future for her five-year-old son, who was by her side wearing swimming goggles to protect him if the police fired more pepper spray.

"If we don't stand up, we will be worried about his future," said the 33-year-old woman named Li. "He can't choose his own future."

The demonstrators broke through a cordon late on Friday and scaled perimeter fences to invade the city's main government compound in the culmination of a week-long rally to demand free elections.

The Hospital Authority said 34 people had been treated in hospital by Saturday evening as a result of the clashes.

The protesters were removed one by one on Saturday afternoon, some of them carried away.

"The police have used disproportionate force to stop the legitimate actions of the students and that should be condemned," said Benny Tai, one of the three main organizers of the pro-democracy Occupy Central movement.

Hong Kong returned from British to Chinese rule in 1997 under a formula known as "one country, two systems," with a high degree of autonomy and freedoms not enjoyed in mainland China. Universal suffrage was set as an eventual goal.

But Beijing last month rejected demands for people to freely choose the city's next leader in 2017, prompting threats from activists to shut down the Central financial district in a so-called Occupy Central campaign. China wants to limit elections to a handful of candidates loyal to Beijing.

A protester raises a placard that reads "Occupy Central" between riot policemen and protesters outside the government headquarters in Hong Kong, Saturday, Sept. 27, 2014. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu)

BATTLE HEATS UP

Tempers flared and there were scenes of chaos before dawn on Saturday when protesters used umbrellas to shield themselves from the pepper spray. Those who got hit used water to rinse their eyes.

"I paid my highest respect to every soldier who defends till the last moment... Civil disobedience - it continues to happen," said student leader Lester Shum on his Facebook page.

Hong Kong's Education Bureau appealed to parents and teachers on Saturday not to allow underage children and students to take part in unlawful activities to avoid risking their safety.

Leaders of the local Occupy movement arrived to show their support for the protests. They plan to blockade the financial district on Oct. 1, a holiday, hoping it will escalate into one of most disruptive protests in Hong Kong for decades.

The latest clashes were the most heated in a series of anti-Beijing protests. Police arrested six people overnight, including teenage student leader Joshua Wong, who was dragged away by police, kicking, screaming and bleeding from his arm, after he called on the protesters to charge the government premises.

"Hong Kong's future belongs to you, you and you," Wong, a thin 17-year-old with dark-rimmed glasses and bowl-cut hair, told cheering supporters before he was taken away. (Additional reporting by Stefanie McIntyre, Venus Wu, Diana Chan, Kinling Lo, Donny Kwok, Farah Master and Charlie Zhu; Writing by Anne Marie Roantree; Editing by)