Yahoo!7
China policy in question after Taiwan polls landslide
AFP
November 30, 2014, 11:44 pm
Taipei (AFP) - Taiwan's warmer relations with China were called into question Sunday after the island's Beijing-friendly ruling party suffered its worst-ever polls defeat in local elections, sparking the resignation of Premier Jiang Yi-huah.
The rout came as the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) party struggles to combat public fears of China's growing influence, as well as a slowing economy and a string of food scandals.
Seen as a barometer before presidential elections in 2016, the poll results may now force the KMT to re-examine its China policy -- and encourage the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which is traditionally Beijing-sceptic.
"The KMT are not likely to push the ties (with China) forward if they hope not to suffer another huge setback in the 2016 presidential race," Ding Shuh-fan, a professor at National Chengchi University in Taipei, told AFP.
"At the same time China is also unlikely to make concessions and offer substantial economic benefits in talks" given the prospect of the DPP taking power in 2016, Ding added.
"It would be hard for cross-strait ties to move forward in the year ahead."
Beijing called for "continued efforts for peaceful cross-strait relations" in the wake of the vote.
- 'Too reliant on China' -
"We hope compatriots across the strait will cherish hard-won fruits of cross-strait relations, and jointly safeguard and continue to push forward peaceful development of cross-strait relations," said Ma Xiaoguang, spokesman for the State Council's Taiwan Affairs Office.
Taiwan and China split in 1949 at the end of a civil war, but Beijing still claims the island as part of its territory awaiting reunification -- by force if necessary.
Tensions rose markedly during the presidency of the DPP's Chen Shui-bian from 2000-2008.
Since KMT President Ma Ying-jeou came to power in 2008 on a China-friendly platform, frosty ties have warmed, leading to a tourist boom of Chinese visitors to Taiwan as well as expanded trade links.
But there is public anxiety at the closer relationship. A proposed services trade pact with the mainland sparked mass student-led protests and a three-week occupation of Taiwan's parliament earlier this year.
"The Ma administration has been too reliant on China economically," said 32-year-old designer Tom Shen in Taipei.
"Many people fear that Taiwan will have to do as Beijing orders in the future."
Two months of democracy rallies in Hong Kong could also have strengthened anti-Beijing sentiment, said Chang Wu-ueh, director of Tamkang University's Graduate Institute of China Studies in Taipei.
"The pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong may have indirectly affected voters' mood in Taiwan and deepened the negative perception of Beijing," he said.
But Taiwan's slowing economy will make it hard for any government to reject trade deals with China outright -- and even non-KMT politicians are not ruling out trade negotiations with Beijing.
"Given the huge amount of trade and civil visits across the strait, it would be unrealistic to halt immediately what is going on," admitted Shen.
Ding said there was "no way to turn back the tide" of trade and investment relations.
The DPP's current leader Tsai Ing-wen has moderated her party's cross-strait stance since she was elected earlier this year.
The KMT took 40.7 percent of the ballots cast in the local polls, while the DPP scooped 47.5 percent.
There were 11,130 seats up for grabs with 18 million eligible voters -- turnout was 67.5 percent.
The KMT went from controlling four of the six major municipalities to just one, while its city and county seats were more than halved. It lost its key stronghold of Taipei, where independent candidate Ko Wen-je became mayor.
Taiwan's United Daily News said Sunday the results were a "no-confidence" vote in the Ma administration.
"Ma must swiftly reform the party and government, otherwise there won't be a future for the (KMT) party in Taiwan," it said.
The Liberty Times said Taiwan had given a "huge slap in the face" to the KMT, but warned the DPP against complacency.
"The election has set a clear guideline (for politicians) -- anyone who performs poorly will be replaced."
Ma must stand down at the next elections as he has completed two terms.
AFP
***
Chân thành cám ơn Quý Anh Chị ghé thăm "conbenho Nguyễn Hoài Trang Blog".
Xin được lắng nghe ý kiến chia sẻ của Quý Anh Chị trực tiếp tại Diễn Đàn Paltalk: 1Latdo Tapdoan Vietgian CSVN Phanquoc Bannuoc .
Kính chúc Sức Khỏe Quý Anh Chị .
conbenho
Tiểu Muội quantu
Nguyễn Hoài Trang
01122014
___________
Cộng sản Việt Nam là TỘI ÁC
Bao che, dung dưỡng TỘI ÁC là ĐỒNG LÕA với TỘI ÁC
Sunday, November 30, 2014
WORLD_ HONG KONG_ Hong Kong Protesters Surround City Leader’s Office in Renewed Confrontation
The New York Times
Hong Kong Protesters Surround City Leader’s Office in Renewed Confrontation
By CHRIS BUCKLEY and AUSTIN RAMZY
NOV. 30, 2014
Police officers threw a pro-democracy protester to the ground outside government headquarters in Hong Kong on Sunday. Credit Kin Cheung/Associated Press
HONG KONG — Pro-democracy demonstrators in Hong Kong suffered a setback on Monday, when their attempt overnight to besiege government offices collapsed and the police thrust into the protesters’ biggest street camp.
The reversal came after a night of seesaw clashes in the political heart of the city, ending weeks of anxious calm at the protesters’ main street camp, in the Admiralty neighborhood, and threw into question how much longer the Hong Kong government would tolerate hundreds of tents there, only a stone’s throw from the city’s administrative and legislative complex.
Fear rippled through the protest camp, with some student leaders defending the decision to escalate the confrontation with the police, and others wondering whether the protest leaders had made the right decision.
Many protesters wore masks and goggles, worried that the police would use pepper spray.
“The police have never gotten so close to the heart of our camp,” said Augustine Chung, a 24-year-old employee of a nongovernmental organization who was among the protesters. “I can only hope the student leaders know what to do next.”
Sunday night began with rousing speeches from the student leaders in the Admiralty protest camp and calls for peaceful disobedience. But the bravado gave way to chaotic, panicky strife at the nearby government complex, where the police did indeed use pepper spray and batons to drive back protesters.
The tumult erupted soon after student leaders urged protesters to besiege city government offices in an attempt to force concessions to their demands for democratic elections for the city’s leader. The protesters have said that election plans for the city offered by the Chinese government will not give voters a real say. Student protest leaders, who have dithered and debated over the direction of their movement, said their patience had expired.
“We feel that the government feels no pressure if this movement simply drags on like this,” said Oscar Lai, a leader of Scholarism, a protest group of high school and university students, who urged protesters to peacefully block the Hong Kong leader’s office. “This escalation shows that Hong Kong people can’t wait anymore.”
“Surround the government,” Nathan Law, a leading member of the Hong Kong Federation of Students, said from a podium in the Admiralty protest camp where thousands of people had gathered.
Minutes later, thousands of protesters surged toward the government offices, including the headquarters of Hong Kong’s chief executive, where the police were ready with barricades and anti-riot equipment. The action ended an armistice that for several weeks had allowed government staff members and the chief executive, Leung Chun-ying, to go to work minutes from the protest camp without any hindrance.
By 3 a.m. Monday, the police had arrested 40 people in Admiralty, the site of the largest remaining protest camp. (Protesters also maintain a much smaller street camp in Causeway Bay, a shopping district.) Radio Television Hong Kong, the city’s public broadcaster, reported more arrests were likely, citing the police.
Continue reading the main story The protesters’ actions were “completely in contravention of the organizers’ declared principles of nonviolence,” the police said in a separate statement.
The clashes came after a week in which the beleaguered pro-democracy movement lost its street camp in the Mong Kok neighborhood, one of three such camps that demonstrators have held since Sept. 28. Back then, a police operation to disperse protesters backfired, and thousands of residents surged onto the streets, irate at the police’s use of batons, pepper spray and tear gas.
“The action tonight is to paralyze government operations,” Alex Chow, the secretary-general of the Hong Kong Federation of Students, one of the two student groups that initiated the attempted siege, said early Monday. “Our objective is very clear, which is to have the government respond to our demand, and this action will continue until they respond.”
But if student protest leaders felt they could no longer wait, they offered little illumination of how they expected to succeed by urging demonstrators to surround the government’s headquarters and attempting to choke off access to it before the start of the workweek. Even protesters caught up in the euphoria of defiance feared they could win only a Pyrrhic victory before the police regained the upper hand.
“I don’t know if we can hold out for so long,” said Murphy Wong, a writer who was among the protesters outside the barricades at the chief executive’s office. Like many protesters, he wore goggles and a surgical mask as protection against pepper spray. “I’m not very confident our movement can influence and outlast the government,” he said. “But if we didn’t make our point, it would be even worse.”
Soon after he spoke, the police raised flags warning that people faced arrest if they did not leave, but the crowd remained defiant and poured across a harborside road and blocked the chief executive’s office. The police with riot shields and helmets then used pepper spray to force back the crowd, and soon dozens of protesters lay on the grass of an adjacent park while first-aid teams poured water on their eyes.
The police forces regrouped and further drove back the protesters to a nearby park facing Victoria Harbor. A back-and-forth struggle lasted for more than an hour until the police retreated. But at 7 a.m. the police moved against the exhausted protesters, many of whom were sleeping on the road. The police continued their charge, pushing demonstrators out of the park and across a pedestrian bridge over the main protest area, where panicky crowds ran back and forth. It was the police’s deepest incursion into the protest camp since the occupation began.
The crowds of retreating protesters blocked any further advance by the police by throwing metal barriers, bags of trash, shopping carts and other boxes onto the escalator leading to the pedestrian bridge, forming a crude barricade.
But many of the thousands of protesters around the Admiralty camp wondered how much longer they could stay.
Continue reading the main story Continue reading the main story Continue reading the main story “This is our final stand,” said Leo, an 18-year-old student, wearing a gas mask, goggles and a white towel draped over his neck, who helped build the barricade on the escalator. Like growing numbers of the protesters, he would not give his full name, fearing punishment.
“I think the government will ignore us again but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try.”
In mid-October, the government offices and a nearby traffic tunnel and park became a battleground between the police and protesters who blockaded the chief executive’s office. Hundreds of police officers used pepper spray to disperse hundreds of demonstrators who had barricaded nearby Lung Wo Road.
The two student groups at the forefront of the protests, the Hong Kong Federation of Students and Scholarism, had urged supporters to congregate in Admiralty and bring the now-familiar paraphernalia of the protest: safety helmets and drinking water, as well as goggles and umbrellas, which have been used to fend off bursts of pepper spray from the police.
“There comes a time when you need to take some risks, and that’s what we did,” said Boon Ho Sung, a 36-year-old stage actor who was among the protesters milling around Admiralty. “This will trigger another wave of action from the people,” he added. “Some people in the movement will be willing to take more radical steps.”
Alan Wong and Michael Forsythe contributed reporting from Hong Kong.
***
Chân thành cám ơn Quý Anh Chị ghé thăm "conbenho Nguyễn Hoài Trang Blog".
Xin được lắng nghe ý kiến chia sẻ của Quý Anh Chị trực tiếp tại Diễn Đàn Paltalk: 1Latdo Tapdoan Vietgian CSVN Phanquoc Bannuoc .
Kính chúc Sức Khỏe Quý Anh Chị .
conbenho
Tiểu Muội quantu
Nguyễn Hoài Trang
01122014
___________
Cộng sản Việt Nam là TỘI ÁC
Bao che, dung dưỡng TỘI ÁC là ĐỒNG LÕA với TỘI ÁC
Hong Kong Protesters Surround City Leader’s Office in Renewed Confrontation
By CHRIS BUCKLEY and AUSTIN RAMZY
NOV. 30, 2014
Police officers threw a pro-democracy protester to the ground outside government headquarters in Hong Kong on Sunday. Credit Kin Cheung/Associated Press
HONG KONG — Pro-democracy demonstrators in Hong Kong suffered a setback on Monday, when their attempt overnight to besiege government offices collapsed and the police thrust into the protesters’ biggest street camp.
The reversal came after a night of seesaw clashes in the political heart of the city, ending weeks of anxious calm at the protesters’ main street camp, in the Admiralty neighborhood, and threw into question how much longer the Hong Kong government would tolerate hundreds of tents there, only a stone’s throw from the city’s administrative and legislative complex.
Fear rippled through the protest camp, with some student leaders defending the decision to escalate the confrontation with the police, and others wondering whether the protest leaders had made the right decision.
Many protesters wore masks and goggles, worried that the police would use pepper spray.
“The police have never gotten so close to the heart of our camp,” said Augustine Chung, a 24-year-old employee of a nongovernmental organization who was among the protesters. “I can only hope the student leaders know what to do next.”
Sunday night began with rousing speeches from the student leaders in the Admiralty protest camp and calls for peaceful disobedience. But the bravado gave way to chaotic, panicky strife at the nearby government complex, where the police did indeed use pepper spray and batons to drive back protesters.
The tumult erupted soon after student leaders urged protesters to besiege city government offices in an attempt to force concessions to their demands for democratic elections for the city’s leader. The protesters have said that election plans for the city offered by the Chinese government will not give voters a real say. Student protest leaders, who have dithered and debated over the direction of their movement, said their patience had expired.
“We feel that the government feels no pressure if this movement simply drags on like this,” said Oscar Lai, a leader of Scholarism, a protest group of high school and university students, who urged protesters to peacefully block the Hong Kong leader’s office. “This escalation shows that Hong Kong people can’t wait anymore.”
“Surround the government,” Nathan Law, a leading member of the Hong Kong Federation of Students, said from a podium in the Admiralty protest camp where thousands of people had gathered.
Minutes later, thousands of protesters surged toward the government offices, including the headquarters of Hong Kong’s chief executive, where the police were ready with barricades and anti-riot equipment. The action ended an armistice that for several weeks had allowed government staff members and the chief executive, Leung Chun-ying, to go to work minutes from the protest camp without any hindrance.
By 3 a.m. Monday, the police had arrested 40 people in Admiralty, the site of the largest remaining protest camp. (Protesters also maintain a much smaller street camp in Causeway Bay, a shopping district.) Radio Television Hong Kong, the city’s public broadcaster, reported more arrests were likely, citing the police.
Continue reading the main story The protesters’ actions were “completely in contravention of the organizers’ declared principles of nonviolence,” the police said in a separate statement.
The clashes came after a week in which the beleaguered pro-democracy movement lost its street camp in the Mong Kok neighborhood, one of three such camps that demonstrators have held since Sept. 28. Back then, a police operation to disperse protesters backfired, and thousands of residents surged onto the streets, irate at the police’s use of batons, pepper spray and tear gas.
“The action tonight is to paralyze government operations,” Alex Chow, the secretary-general of the Hong Kong Federation of Students, one of the two student groups that initiated the attempted siege, said early Monday. “Our objective is very clear, which is to have the government respond to our demand, and this action will continue until they respond.”
But if student protest leaders felt they could no longer wait, they offered little illumination of how they expected to succeed by urging demonstrators to surround the government’s headquarters and attempting to choke off access to it before the start of the workweek. Even protesters caught up in the euphoria of defiance feared they could win only a Pyrrhic victory before the police regained the upper hand.
“I don’t know if we can hold out for so long,” said Murphy Wong, a writer who was among the protesters outside the barricades at the chief executive’s office. Like many protesters, he wore goggles and a surgical mask as protection against pepper spray. “I’m not very confident our movement can influence and outlast the government,” he said. “But if we didn’t make our point, it would be even worse.”
Soon after he spoke, the police raised flags warning that people faced arrest if they did not leave, but the crowd remained defiant and poured across a harborside road and blocked the chief executive’s office. The police with riot shields and helmets then used pepper spray to force back the crowd, and soon dozens of protesters lay on the grass of an adjacent park while first-aid teams poured water on their eyes.
The police forces regrouped and further drove back the protesters to a nearby park facing Victoria Harbor. A back-and-forth struggle lasted for more than an hour until the police retreated. But at 7 a.m. the police moved against the exhausted protesters, many of whom were sleeping on the road. The police continued their charge, pushing demonstrators out of the park and across a pedestrian bridge over the main protest area, where panicky crowds ran back and forth. It was the police’s deepest incursion into the protest camp since the occupation began.
The crowds of retreating protesters blocked any further advance by the police by throwing metal barriers, bags of trash, shopping carts and other boxes onto the escalator leading to the pedestrian bridge, forming a crude barricade.
But many of the thousands of protesters around the Admiralty camp wondered how much longer they could stay.
Continue reading the main story Continue reading the main story Continue reading the main story “This is our final stand,” said Leo, an 18-year-old student, wearing a gas mask, goggles and a white towel draped over his neck, who helped build the barricade on the escalator. Like growing numbers of the protesters, he would not give his full name, fearing punishment.
“I think the government will ignore us again but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try.”
In mid-October, the government offices and a nearby traffic tunnel and park became a battleground between the police and protesters who blockaded the chief executive’s office. Hundreds of police officers used pepper spray to disperse hundreds of demonstrators who had barricaded nearby Lung Wo Road.
The two student groups at the forefront of the protests, the Hong Kong Federation of Students and Scholarism, had urged supporters to congregate in Admiralty and bring the now-familiar paraphernalia of the protest: safety helmets and drinking water, as well as goggles and umbrellas, which have been used to fend off bursts of pepper spray from the police.
“There comes a time when you need to take some risks, and that’s what we did,” said Boon Ho Sung, a 36-year-old stage actor who was among the protesters milling around Admiralty. “This will trigger another wave of action from the people,” he added. “Some people in the movement will be willing to take more radical steps.”
Alan Wong and Michael Forsythe contributed reporting from Hong Kong.
***
Chân thành cám ơn Quý Anh Chị ghé thăm "conbenho Nguyễn Hoài Trang Blog".
Xin được lắng nghe ý kiến chia sẻ của Quý Anh Chị trực tiếp tại Diễn Đàn Paltalk: 1Latdo Tapdoan Vietgian CSVN Phanquoc Bannuoc .
Kính chúc Sức Khỏe Quý Anh Chị .
conbenho
Tiểu Muội quantu
Nguyễn Hoài Trang
01122014
___________
Cộng sản Việt Nam là TỘI ÁC
Bao che, dung dưỡng TỘI ÁC là ĐỒNG LÕA với TỘI ÁC
WORLD_ HONG KONG_ Hong Kong protesters, police clash; 40 arrested
Yahoo! News
Hong Kong protesters, police clash; 40 arrested Associated Press
By KELVIN CHAN
2 hours ago
HONG KONG (AP) — Pro-democracy protesters clashed with police early Monday as they tried to surround Hong Kong government headquarters, stepping up their movement for genuine democratic reforms after camping out on the city's streets for more than two months.
Related Stories
* Hong Kong police clash with protesters outside govt HQ AFP
* Hong Kong police arrest student protest leaders Associated Press
* Hong Kong protesters clash with police near heart of financial district Reuters
* Hong Kong police reopen main road after clearing protest camp AFP
* Hong Kong activists try to storm legislature Associated Press
Repeating scenes that have become familiar since the movement began in late September, protesters carrying umbrellas — which have become symbols of the pro-democracy movement — battled police armed with pepper spray, batons and riot shields.
After student leaders told a big crowd rallying Sunday evening at the main protest site outside government headquarters that they would escalate their campaign, hundreds of protesters pushed past police lines on the other side of the complex from the protest site. They blocked traffic on a main road, but were stopped by police barricades from going down a side road to Chief Executive Leung Chun-Ying's office.
The protesters, many wearing surgical masks, hard hats and safety goggles and chanting "I want true democracy," said they wanted to occupy the road to prevent Leung and other government officials from getting to work in the morning.
At one point, police charged the crowd, aggressively pushing demonstrators back with pepper spray and batons, after some protesters started pelting them with water bottles and other objects. They later fell back, letting demonstrators re-occupy the road.
Police Senior Superintendent Tsui Wai-hung said 40 protesters had been arrested, adding that authorities would not let the road, a major thoroughfare, remain blocked.
"We will open up this road," he told reporters.
Police officers use pepper spray to stop pro-democracy protesters moving forward on the main road outside the government headquarters in Hong Kong Sunday, Nov.30, 2014. Hundreds of pro-democracy protesters faced off with Hong Kong police late Sunday, stepping up their movement for genuine democratic reforms after being camped out on the city's streets for more than two months. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung) Hundreds of pro-democracy protesters faced off with Hong Kong police late Sunday, stepping up their movement for genuine democratic reforms after being camped out on the city's streets for more than two months. Student protest leaders on Sunday night told a big crowd rallying at the main protest site outside government headquarters that they would escalate their campaign by surrounding the building. The crowd tried to push its way down a narrow staircase in an attempt to get to the office of the city's Beijing-backed leader. Hundreds of protesters charged past police lines, blocking traffic on a main road, but were stopped by police barricades from going down an access road to Chief Executive Leung Chun-Ying's office. (AP) Find more news related pictures on our photo galleries page and follow us on Tumblr.
Protesters said they were taking action to force a response from Hong Kong's government, which has made little effort to address their demands that it scrap a plan by China's Communist leaders to use a panel of Beijing-friendly elites to screen candidates for Hong Kong's leader in inaugural 2017 elections.
"The action was aimed at paralyzing the government's operation," said Alex Chow, secretary general of the Hong Kong Federation of Students. "The government has been stalling ... and we believe we need to focus pressure on the government headquarters, the symbol of the government's power."
The federation is one of two students groups that have played important roles in organizing the protest movement in the former British colony.
"I really want to have real elections for Hong Kong because I don't want the Chinese government to control us, our minds, anything," said protester Ernie Kwok, 21, a maintenance worker and part-time student.
Authorities last week used an aggressive operation to clear out the protest camp on the busy streets of Hong Kong's crowded Mong Kok district, one of three protest zones around the semiautonomous city.
In Britain, a lawmakers' committee said the Chinese Embassy had warned that its members would be refused entry if they tried to go ahead with a visit to Hong Kong as part of an inquiry into the city's relations with the U.K. since the handover of sovereignty to China in 1997.
Richard Ottaway, chairman of Parliament's committee on foreign affairs, said the Chinese authorities were acting in an "overtly confrontational manner." He said he would seek an emergency parliamentary debate on the development.
The Foreign Office called the Chinese message to the lawmakers "regrettable" and said it has expressed its position to the Chinese side "at the most senior levels."
____
AP Writer Sylvia Hui in London contributed to this report.
View Comments (244): https://news.yahoo.com/hong-kong-protesters-face-off-police-140742452.html
***
Chân thành cám ơn Quý Anh Chị ghé thăm "conbenho Nguyễn Hoài Trang Blog".
Xin được lắng nghe ý kiến chia sẻ của Quý Anh Chị trực tiếp tại Diễn Đàn Paltalk: 1Latdo Tapdoan Vietgian CSVN Phanquoc Bannuoc .
Kính chúc Sức Khỏe Quý Anh Chị .
conbenho
Tiểu Muội quantu
Nguyễn Hoài Trang
01122014
___________
Cộng sản Việt Nam là TỘI ÁC
Bao che, dung dưỡng TỘI ÁC là ĐỒNG LÕA với TỘI ÁC
Hong Kong protesters, police clash; 40 arrested Associated Press
By KELVIN CHAN
2 hours ago
HONG KONG (AP) — Pro-democracy protesters clashed with police early Monday as they tried to surround Hong Kong government headquarters, stepping up their movement for genuine democratic reforms after camping out on the city's streets for more than two months.
Related Stories
* Hong Kong police clash with protesters outside govt HQ AFP
* Hong Kong police arrest student protest leaders Associated Press
* Hong Kong protesters clash with police near heart of financial district Reuters
* Hong Kong police reopen main road after clearing protest camp AFP
* Hong Kong activists try to storm legislature Associated Press
Repeating scenes that have become familiar since the movement began in late September, protesters carrying umbrellas — which have become symbols of the pro-democracy movement — battled police armed with pepper spray, batons and riot shields.
After student leaders told a big crowd rallying Sunday evening at the main protest site outside government headquarters that they would escalate their campaign, hundreds of protesters pushed past police lines on the other side of the complex from the protest site. They blocked traffic on a main road, but were stopped by police barricades from going down a side road to Chief Executive Leung Chun-Ying's office.
The protesters, many wearing surgical masks, hard hats and safety goggles and chanting "I want true democracy," said they wanted to occupy the road to prevent Leung and other government officials from getting to work in the morning.
At one point, police charged the crowd, aggressively pushing demonstrators back with pepper spray and batons, after some protesters started pelting them with water bottles and other objects. They later fell back, letting demonstrators re-occupy the road.
Police Senior Superintendent Tsui Wai-hung said 40 protesters had been arrested, adding that authorities would not let the road, a major thoroughfare, remain blocked.
"We will open up this road," he told reporters.
Police officers use pepper spray to stop pro-democracy protesters moving forward on the main road outside the government headquarters in Hong Kong Sunday, Nov.30, 2014. Hundreds of pro-democracy protesters faced off with Hong Kong police late Sunday, stepping up their movement for genuine democratic reforms after being camped out on the city's streets for more than two months. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung) Hundreds of pro-democracy protesters faced off with Hong Kong police late Sunday, stepping up their movement for genuine democratic reforms after being camped out on the city's streets for more than two months. Student protest leaders on Sunday night told a big crowd rallying at the main protest site outside government headquarters that they would escalate their campaign by surrounding the building. The crowd tried to push its way down a narrow staircase in an attempt to get to the office of the city's Beijing-backed leader. Hundreds of protesters charged past police lines, blocking traffic on a main road, but were stopped by police barricades from going down an access road to Chief Executive Leung Chun-Ying's office. (AP) Find more news related pictures on our photo galleries page and follow us on Tumblr.
Protesters said they were taking action to force a response from Hong Kong's government, which has made little effort to address their demands that it scrap a plan by China's Communist leaders to use a panel of Beijing-friendly elites to screen candidates for Hong Kong's leader in inaugural 2017 elections.
"The action was aimed at paralyzing the government's operation," said Alex Chow, secretary general of the Hong Kong Federation of Students. "The government has been stalling ... and we believe we need to focus pressure on the government headquarters, the symbol of the government's power."
The federation is one of two students groups that have played important roles in organizing the protest movement in the former British colony.
"I really want to have real elections for Hong Kong because I don't want the Chinese government to control us, our minds, anything," said protester Ernie Kwok, 21, a maintenance worker and part-time student.
Authorities last week used an aggressive operation to clear out the protest camp on the busy streets of Hong Kong's crowded Mong Kok district, one of three protest zones around the semiautonomous city.
In Britain, a lawmakers' committee said the Chinese Embassy had warned that its members would be refused entry if they tried to go ahead with a visit to Hong Kong as part of an inquiry into the city's relations with the U.K. since the handover of sovereignty to China in 1997.
Richard Ottaway, chairman of Parliament's committee on foreign affairs, said the Chinese authorities were acting in an "overtly confrontational manner." He said he would seek an emergency parliamentary debate on the development.
The Foreign Office called the Chinese message to the lawmakers "regrettable" and said it has expressed its position to the Chinese side "at the most senior levels."
____
AP Writer Sylvia Hui in London contributed to this report.
View Comments (244): https://news.yahoo.com/hong-kong-protesters-face-off-police-140742452.html
***
Chân thành cám ơn Quý Anh Chị ghé thăm "conbenho Nguyễn Hoài Trang Blog".
Xin được lắng nghe ý kiến chia sẻ của Quý Anh Chị trực tiếp tại Diễn Đàn Paltalk: 1Latdo Tapdoan Vietgian CSVN Phanquoc Bannuoc .
Kính chúc Sức Khỏe Quý Anh Chị .
conbenho
Tiểu Muội quantu
Nguyễn Hoài Trang
01122014
___________
Cộng sản Việt Nam là TỘI ÁC
Bao che, dung dưỡng TỘI ÁC là ĐỒNG LÕA với TỘI ÁC
WORLD_ IS jihadists suffer heavy losses in Syria's Kobane
Yahoo!7
IS jihadists suffer heavy losses in Syria's Kobane
AFP
December 1, 2014, 8:12 am
Blow to IS group as '50 jihadists killed in Kobane in past 24 hours'
Islamic State group jihadists battling for control of the Syrian town of Kobane suffered some of their heaviest losses yet in 24 hours of clashes and US-led air strikes, monitors said Sunday.
At least 50 jihadists were killed in the embattled border town in suicide bombings, clashes with Kobane's Kurdish defenders and air strikes, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Canada, meanwhile, said it was "aware of reports" one of its citizens may have been captured in Kobane, reportedly an Israeli-Canadian woman fighting alongside Kurdish forces.
The Britain-based Observatory also said the US-led coalition battling the IS group hit at least 30 targets in and around Raqa, the jihadists' de facto capital.
A Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) fighter shows the extent of the damage from a truck bomb in Kobani, Syria. Photo: AP
There were no immediate details of a toll in the Raqa strikes.
Syrian regime strikes on Sunday killed at least 29 civilians, among them seven women and three children, the group said.
The deaths in Kobane came on Saturday after IS jihadists launched an unprecedented attack against the border crossing separating the Syrian Kurdish town from Turkey.
Kurdish officials and the Observatory alleged the attack was launched from Turkish soil, a claim the Turkish army dismissed as "lies".
IS began advancing on Kobane on September 16, hoping to quickly seize the small frontier town and secure its grip on a large stretch of the Syrian-Turkish border, following advances in Iraq.
A young Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) fighter who recently volunteered holds a position with a PKM in Kobani, Syria. Photo: AP
- 'Female Zionist soldier' -
At one point it looked set to overrun the town, but Kurdish Syrian fighters, backed by coalition air strikes and an influx of Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga forces, have held IS back.
The US-based monitoring group SITE said IS claimed a woman described as a "female Zionist soldier" had been captured in Kobane.
Some jihadists said she might be Gill Rosenberg, a Canadian-Israeli dual national who had served in the Israeli military and had volunteered to fight with the Kurds, SITE said.
An Israeli foreign ministry spokesman told AFP: "We know nothing about it, but are closely monitoring the information."
A Canadian foreign ministry statement said it was aware of the reports but would not "comment or release any information which may compromise ongoing efforts and risks endangering the safety of Canadian citizens abroad".
In Raqa province, the coalition carried out strikes against at least 30 IS targets on the northern outskirts of the city of the same name and struck Division 17, a Syrian army base which jihadists captured earlier this year.
"We can't say it's the largest set of raids they have carried out, but it's been a long time since we've seen this number of targets hit," Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said.
The coalition began carrying out air strikes against the IS on September 23, and stepped up raids in Kobane in a bid to prevent it falling to the jihadists.
A mortar remains in the street in Kobani, Syria. Photo: AP
- 'Easy targets' -
The US coordinator of the coalition said earlier this week that at least 600 IS fighters had been killed in air strikes and that the group had made easy targets of its fighters by pouring them into Kobane.
But Syria's Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said the air strikes were having little effect and that unless Turkey closed its border to jihadists, the group would be unharmed by the air strikes.
Damascus has regularly accused Turkey of supporting "terrorism" because of its support for the Syrian opposition.
Turkey denies the allegations.
Erdogan is to receive Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose country is a key ally of Syria, in Ankara on Monday for talks about the conflict, which has killed nearly 200,000 people since March 2011.
At the end of a visit to Turkey, Pope Francis on Sunday urged Muslim leaders worldwide to "clearly" condemn terrorism carried out in the name of Islam.
In Syria, the regime kept up its deadly air strikes, including raids that killed 21 civilians including seven women and two children in Jassem in southern Daraa province on Sunday.
Regime strikes in Andan village in the northern province of Aleppo killed eight civilians including a child, the Observatory said.
Abdel Rahman also said the Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Nusra Front executed 13 opposition fighters in Syria's northwestern province of Idlib.
In neighbouring Iraq, meanwhile, the UN and aid groups warned that the arrival of winter meant more help was needed for 2.1 million people displaced by conflict there.
Morning news break – December 1
***
Chân thành cám ơn Quý Anh Chị ghé thăm "conbenho Nguyễn Hoài Trang Blog".
Xin được lắng nghe ý kiến chia sẻ của Quý Anh Chị trực tiếp tại Diễn Đàn Paltalk: 1Latdo Tapdoan Vietgian CSVN Phanquoc Bannuoc .
Kính chúc Sức Khỏe Quý Anh Chị .
conbenho
Tiểu Muội quantu
Nguyễn Hoài Trang
01122014
___________
Cộng sản Việt Nam là TỘI ÁC
Bao che, dung dưỡng TỘI ÁC là ĐỒNG LÕA với TỘI ÁC
IS jihadists suffer heavy losses in Syria's Kobane
AFP
December 1, 2014, 8:12 am
Blow to IS group as '50 jihadists killed in Kobane in past 24 hours'
Islamic State group jihadists battling for control of the Syrian town of Kobane suffered some of their heaviest losses yet in 24 hours of clashes and US-led air strikes, monitors said Sunday.
At least 50 jihadists were killed in the embattled border town in suicide bombings, clashes with Kobane's Kurdish defenders and air strikes, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Canada, meanwhile, said it was "aware of reports" one of its citizens may have been captured in Kobane, reportedly an Israeli-Canadian woman fighting alongside Kurdish forces.
The Britain-based Observatory also said the US-led coalition battling the IS group hit at least 30 targets in and around Raqa, the jihadists' de facto capital.
A Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) fighter shows the extent of the damage from a truck bomb in Kobani, Syria. Photo: AP
There were no immediate details of a toll in the Raqa strikes.
Syrian regime strikes on Sunday killed at least 29 civilians, among them seven women and three children, the group said.
The deaths in Kobane came on Saturday after IS jihadists launched an unprecedented attack against the border crossing separating the Syrian Kurdish town from Turkey.
Kurdish officials and the Observatory alleged the attack was launched from Turkish soil, a claim the Turkish army dismissed as "lies".
IS began advancing on Kobane on September 16, hoping to quickly seize the small frontier town and secure its grip on a large stretch of the Syrian-Turkish border, following advances in Iraq.
A young Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) fighter who recently volunteered holds a position with a PKM in Kobani, Syria. Photo: AP
- 'Female Zionist soldier' -
At one point it looked set to overrun the town, but Kurdish Syrian fighters, backed by coalition air strikes and an influx of Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga forces, have held IS back.
The US-based monitoring group SITE said IS claimed a woman described as a "female Zionist soldier" had been captured in Kobane.
Some jihadists said she might be Gill Rosenberg, a Canadian-Israeli dual national who had served in the Israeli military and had volunteered to fight with the Kurds, SITE said.
An Israeli foreign ministry spokesman told AFP: "We know nothing about it, but are closely monitoring the information."
A Canadian foreign ministry statement said it was aware of the reports but would not "comment or release any information which may compromise ongoing efforts and risks endangering the safety of Canadian citizens abroad".
In Raqa province, the coalition carried out strikes against at least 30 IS targets on the northern outskirts of the city of the same name and struck Division 17, a Syrian army base which jihadists captured earlier this year.
"We can't say it's the largest set of raids they have carried out, but it's been a long time since we've seen this number of targets hit," Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said.
The coalition began carrying out air strikes against the IS on September 23, and stepped up raids in Kobane in a bid to prevent it falling to the jihadists.
A mortar remains in the street in Kobani, Syria. Photo: AP
- 'Easy targets' -
The US coordinator of the coalition said earlier this week that at least 600 IS fighters had been killed in air strikes and that the group had made easy targets of its fighters by pouring them into Kobane.
But Syria's Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said the air strikes were having little effect and that unless Turkey closed its border to jihadists, the group would be unharmed by the air strikes.
Damascus has regularly accused Turkey of supporting "terrorism" because of its support for the Syrian opposition.
Turkey denies the allegations.
Erdogan is to receive Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose country is a key ally of Syria, in Ankara on Monday for talks about the conflict, which has killed nearly 200,000 people since March 2011.
At the end of a visit to Turkey, Pope Francis on Sunday urged Muslim leaders worldwide to "clearly" condemn terrorism carried out in the name of Islam.
In Syria, the regime kept up its deadly air strikes, including raids that killed 21 civilians including seven women and two children in Jassem in southern Daraa province on Sunday.
Regime strikes in Andan village in the northern province of Aleppo killed eight civilians including a child, the Observatory said.
Abdel Rahman also said the Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Nusra Front executed 13 opposition fighters in Syria's northwestern province of Idlib.
In neighbouring Iraq, meanwhile, the UN and aid groups warned that the arrival of winter meant more help was needed for 2.1 million people displaced by conflict there.
Morning news break – December 1
***
Chân thành cám ơn Quý Anh Chị ghé thăm "conbenho Nguyễn Hoài Trang Blog".
Xin được lắng nghe ý kiến chia sẻ của Quý Anh Chị trực tiếp tại Diễn Đàn Paltalk: 1Latdo Tapdoan Vietgian CSVN Phanquoc Bannuoc .
Kính chúc Sức Khỏe Quý Anh Chị .
conbenho
Tiểu Muội quantu
Nguyễn Hoài Trang
01122014
___________
Cộng sản Việt Nam là TỘI ÁC
Bao che, dung dưỡng TỘI ÁC là ĐỒNG LÕA với TỘI ÁC
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
