Talks agreed in Hong Kong after more protest violence
The Australian
October 19, 2014 2:15AM
Scott Murdoch
China Correspondent Beijing
Protesters face off against police in the Mong Kok district of Hong Kong. Source: AFP
THE Hong Kong government will meet pro-democracy advocates on Tuesday, in light of renewed violence on the city’s streets.
Chief secretary of the regional government Carrie Lam announced the negotiations would be held between the Hong Kong Federation of Students and the Constitutional Development Taskforce.
The negotiations would be broadcast live and the students last night agreed for the talks to be moderated by the head of one of Hong Kong’s largest universities.
It is the third time that official discussions between the government and the mainly student protesters have been planned.
Earlier Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protesters reclaimed streets seized back by police just hours earlier, prompting angry scuffles with officers who used pepper spray to disperse the huge crowd.
Police had moved in early Friday morning to remove barricades and protesters who had remained at the Mong Kok site, in the Kowloon district, which had been occupied for more than three weeks.
However, the Occupy Central protesters returned on Friday night and blockaded streets once more yesterday, with riot police struggling to hold back hundreds of defiant activists.
Amid the angry scenes several protesters were seen knocked to the ground or carried away by police.
Prominent Getty photojournalist Paula Bronstein was arrested after she stood on a car to take photographs of the protesters.
In a statement, Hong Kong police condemned the students’ renewed action and said pepper spray was used after the crowds started to “surge”.
“The acts of these people have seriously undermined public order and public safety,” police said.
“They wilfully blocked the major thoroughfares, charged the police cordon lines and shoved police officers to the ground.”
It said police, who have been heavily criticised for the handling of the protests over the past three weeks, would handle future trouble with “resolute enforcement.”
The Hong Kong Foreign Correspondents Club denounced Bronstein’s arrest and called for journalists to be free to cover the protests with out the risk of being targeted by police.
“The police have been threatening other journalists at the scene, one was told he would be hit with a baton if he tried to cross the road,” the club said.
Mong Kok’s protest zone has been home to a rowdier, more radical crowd less willing to follow student leaders, making it the most volatile of the three areas occupied since September 28 by Hong Kong democracy protesters.
The dawn operation — the third in recent days by police to retake streets from protesters — came after Hong Kong chief executive Leung Chun-ying sought to defuse the bitter standoff with the protesters on Thursday by reviving an offer of talks over democratic reforms in the city.
However, Mr Leung warned that police would not refrain from clearing protest sites while talks were held.
Protesters are pressing for a greater say in choosing the semi-autonomous Chinese city’s leader in an inaugural direct election, promised for 2017.
Additional reporting: AP
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