Hong Kong Protesters Consider Moving From Streets to Government Buildings
Call Comes as Two Hong Kong Student Protest Leaders Released on Bail
Student leader Joshua Wong speaks to reporters after he was released on bail in Hong Kong on Thursday, Nov. 27, 2014. Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
By Isabella Steger And Chester Yung
Updated Nov. 27, 2014 11:27 p.m. ET
3 COMMENTS
HONG KONG—With the protests here approaching the end of their second month and the Mong Kok protest site cleared, students at the helm of the pro-democracy demonstrations say they are considering moving from the streets to government buildings.
Yvonne Leung, a spokeswoman for the Hong Kong Federation of Students, said Thursday the group was considering actions that might target government buildings, but she didn’t elaborate. The suggestion comes a week after a small group of protesters failed in an attempt to break into the city’s Legislative Council building by smashing windows. In the wake of that attempt, some protesters condemned it for its violence, and its lack of organization and consensus.
Two Hong Kong student protesters leaders were also released on bail Thursday, following their arrest while police cleared a protest site the previous day. Joshua Wong and Lester Shum were both released on bail for 500 Hong Kong dollars (US$64.50), their lawyers said. According to the bail conditions, they aren’t allowed to enter certain areas in Mong Kok before Jan. 14, 2015. Both were charged with one count of obstructing public officers in the execution of duty.
VIDEO (WSJ): Hong Kong police grab and arrest Joshua Wong from the crowd as one of the key protest areas is cleared.
Mr. Wong leads the student protest group Scholarism, and was arrested during Wednesday’s police operation to clear the Mong Kok protest site on Nathan Road. Mr. Shum, the deputy secretary-general of HKFS, which represents university students, was also arrested Wednesday.
Upon his release Thursday afternoon, 18-year-old Mr. Wong told reporters that he was tackled to the ground by a dozen or so police officers when he was arrested, and said some of the police tried to hurt his “private parts.”
Oscar Lai, a spokesman for Scholarism, said he believes police were targeting student leaders and arresting them so the movement becomes “leaderless.”
VIDEO: Footage from Hong Kong broadcaster TVB shows police allegedly assaulting
Police cleared the Mong Kok protest site—one of three areas occupied—on Tuesday and Wednesday in accordance with court injunctions filed by transport companies. But the clearance of the occupied site hasn’t stopped protesters from flocking back to Mong Kok, but without the aim of reoccupying any particular area.
People crowded the busy shopping area of Sai Yeung Choi Street, parallel to Nathan Road, the site of the original occupied zone, resulting in some violent scuffles with police Wednesday night. On Thursday evening, there were more arrests in Mong Kok as crowds again gathered in the same area.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, police with batons beat back protesters, and used a new type of pepper spray, fired from a raised platform. The latest use of force by police in Mong Kok has also renewed some public anger against the use of force by police, after officers were caught on camera beating a protester last month.
Jenny Lee, a 19-year-old university student, said she was one of hundreds of people gathered outside a subway exit in Mong Kok on Wednesday night when she says she saw police start using pepper spray without warning.
“I was very shocked, and very scared. I had to step away for a while. I will go out again [to Mong Kok] but I will stay away from the front line,” she said.
The police didn’t return requests to comment Thursday.
Police said in a statement that they have suspended an officer from taking part in “related operations” after complaints that he used excessive levels of force in Mong Kok on Tuesday night, without giving details about the officer. Police said they are “very concerned” about the incident.
VIDEO: Hong Kong performing artist Denise Ho talks about her support for the student protest movement in the face of censorship in China. Photo: Getty Images
On Wednesday, police said they arrested seven officers on suspicion of beating of Ken Tsang. Video footage showed men in police uniforms beating the social worker in a dark corner near the Admiralty protest site.
Protesters and the government have been locked in a stalemate for weeks, with seemingly no potential for a second round of talks. As the pro-democracy protests have started to lose momentum—and broader public support—many are looking to the main student groups for cues on the possibility of escalating their actions.
Ms. Lee said she was looking to HKFS for more direction on what plans they had to escalate actions. “It needs to be something that can really threaten the government.”
The protesters say they remain committed to their core demand of full public nomination for the chief executive post in 2017, as opposed to being able to vote only for candidates for the city’s top leader who are screened by Beijing.
Hong Kong Protesters Clash With Police
Hong Kong's high court authorized police to arrest protesters who obstruct bailiffs from removing barricades at the protest site.
1 of 18 fullscreen
Police clashed with protesters as they tried to clear the streets after agents authorized by bailiffs removed barricades on Argyle Street in Hong Kong’s Mong Kok district on early Wednesday morning. The Mong Kok protest site is scheduled for clearance by bailiffs this week. Chris McGrath/Getty Images
Write to Isabella Steger at isabella.steger@wsj.com and Chester Yung at chester.yung@wsj.com
VIDEO: http://online.wsj.com/articles/hong-kong-protesters-consider-moving-from-streets-to-government-buildings-1417093575
***
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
28112014
___________
Cộng sản Việt Nam là TỘI ÁC
Bao che, dung dưỡng TỘI ÁC là ĐỒNG LÕA với TỘI ÁC
No comments:
Post a Comment