Hong Kong Leader Willing to Hold Limited Talks With Protesters By AUSTIN RAMZY and KEITH BRADSHEROCT. 2, 2014 Photo 1: Dale De La Rey/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images HONG KONG — As a large crowd of demonstrators massed outside his offices Thursday night, Hong Kong’s embattled chief executive declared that he would not resign but said his government was willing to meet with student protesters to discuss their demands for democratic reform. But the chief executive, Leung Chun-ying, who was anointed by Beijing to lead Hong Kong two years ago, said the talks would have to be in accordance with an earlier ruling by the Chinese leadership limiting the scope of political change here — a ruling that has been a target of the mass protests that have shaken this former British colony for nearly a week. “I will not resign because I have to continue my work on universal suffrage,” Mr. Leung said, referring to a proposal to allow residents of Hong Kong to elect his successor from among a limited number of candidates approved by Beijing. Mr. Leung’s remarks at a late-night news conference were unlikely to satisfy the protesters, who had demanded that he resign by midnight, and came after hours of rising tensions outside his office. Earlier in the day, the crowds were angered when they saw the police carrying containers of rubber bullets, tear gas and other riot control gear into the complex, and the authorities warned of “serious consequences” if demonstrators tried to enter and occupy it. Video by Jonah M. Kessel on Publish DateOctober 2, 2014. nyti.ms/1vwFcyg Photo 2: Hong Kong residents reflect on the recent days of protests. “Police, calm down! Police, calm down!” thousands of demonstrators chanted outside the gates of Mr. Leung’s offices, where dozens of police officers stood guard behind metal barriers. Organizers called on protesters to converge on the buildings after officers were seen bringing in the riot control equipment, and warned that the police could be preparing to clear the area to allow the government to reopen Friday after a two-day holiday. Some student leaders have called on protesters to surround and occupy government buildings if Mr. Leung does not step down. But Hui Chun-tak, the chief spokesman for the Hong Kong police, said any attempt to do so would not be tolerated. The police later issued a statement warning protesters not to charge police lines, saying officers would take “resolute enforcement actions.” Several protesters at the scene said they would not storm the buildings but did not intend to allow Mr. Leung to enter his office on Friday morning. “We won’t try to get inside,” said Jackie Au, an accountant who joined the protests and was setting up supplies of water for the night. “We’ll very politely voice our message”: demands that Mr. Leung resign and that Hong Kong hold popular elections for the chief executive, who is now chosen by a committee of elites loyal to Beijing. But the scene there illustrated the growing divisions among the protesters, nearly all of them students. A dozen or so protest leaders debated their next move in whispers, with some urging patience and others an escalation by occupying the four-lane expressway next to the chief executive’s office. “We don’t have a leader,” said Irene Ng, an English major at Hong Kong Baptist University. “This is trying to be a democracy, but then you try to reach a decision and you can’t. Nobody can decide. The ultimate problem is it might split us apart.” As the crowds lay siege to the government buildings, the second-highest official in the Hong Kong government, Carrie Lam, held a meeting early Thursday evening with four pro-democracy lawmakers and four pro-Beijing lawmakers to discuss how to end the protests, three lawmakers said. Emily Lau, the chairwoman of the Democratic Party, said the lawmakers were not trying to negotiate a deal, and none had been reached. “We’ve opened a discussion — even with the bitterest enemy, I think that is important,” she said. The middle-aged pro-democracy lawmakers have limited influence over the demonstrators, almost all of whom are under 30 and have disdained the elaborate compromises that their elders have previously tried to move Hong Kong closer to universal suffrage. Ms. Lau said she had urged the government to meet with the leaders of the main protest factions, student groups and the Occupy Central with Love and Peace group. She declined to discuss what Ms. Lam or others at the meeting had said; a government spokesman declined to confirm that the meeting had even taken place. Albert Ho, another Democratic lawmaker, said after the meeting that both sides were very far apart. Faced with a government strategy to wait them out, the protesters, who have taken over key areas of Hong Kong for days, appeared unsure Thursday whether they should escalate their confrontation or begin searching for an exit strategy. Tim Lam, an engineer who said he had joined the sit-ins every day since Sunday, said he expected the occupation to last another week at most. “That’s about how long the protesters’ passion can last,” he said. “After one, two weeks of occupation, protesters would start to think about how it affects the economy, the everyday lives of people.” Their numbers appeared thinner at the main protest site during the day Thursday, but the crowds surged again in the evening. Many residents were due to return to work in the morning, meaning that the traffic delays and disruptions caused by the protests would affect more people. The government said in a statement that about 3,000 civil servants would be returning to work, and that if protesters barred them from their offices, services would be strained. The government added that it had a “responsibility to protect these government offices so they can resume normal operation,” but stopped short of saying whether the police would attempt to clear out the protesters. A Hong Kong government official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the political sensitivity of the subject, said the government wanted to warn the students not to challenge the police, but could not do so easily because of limited communications. “I hope these guys understand they’re playing with fire if they go down to police headquarters and besiege it, because it is not going to go well,” the official said. “The police just are not going to let that happen. You cannot let a mob surround a police headquarters and not let the police do their job.” On Thursday, the Chinese Communist Party delivered its strongest rhetorical attack yet against the protest movement. In a front-page commentary, People’s Daily, the party’s main newspaper, accused pro-democracy groups of threatening to drag Hong Kong into “chaos.” The commentary laid bare the chasm of expectations between the party and democratic activists in Hong Kong, and, in citing the party leadership, including President Xi Jinping, it appeared to rule out compromise. Protesters interviewed Thursday gave no indication that a retreat was imminent. But many wondered how long they could sustain the turnout necessary to block key roads in the city and just what would mark an acceptable victory. Further escalation by the protesters could alienate members of the public resentful of a demonstration that affects their daily lives. But without more aggressive steps, the protests could fade. “If we take rash actions, we may lose people’s sympathy,” said Niko Cheng, a recent college graduate and protester in Mong Kok, a densely populated area of Hong Kong on the Kowloon Peninsula. “But if this drags on — it’s already turning into a carnival, with people dancing, singing and all that — people may forget what they’re here for.” Prominent voices in the campaign have indicated that there is no consensus on what, short of an unlikely reversal of the central government’s position, would lead to an end of the protests. “We have to achieve something that will enable the crowd to claim victory,” said Mr. Ho, the pro-democracy lawmaker. “They must retreat with dignity, but that may not necessarily be complete victory. There must be a sense of achievement.” After 156 years of British rule, Hong Kong returned to Chinese sovereignty in 1997 and has preserved its own legal system, free press and civic rights not enjoyed by mainland Chinese citizens. The protesters’ demands center on how to elect the chief executive of the city, which China calls a special administrative region. The Chinese government has proposed that starting in 2017, the territory’s voters be allowed to choose the chief executive by ballot. But it has stipulated that there can be only two or three candidates, and that they must be approved by a nomination committee, which would be dominated by people aligned with Beijing. Democracy groups and parties in Hong Kong have called Beijing’s proposal a fraudulent voting exercise. “All the protesters here and Hong Kong people know it is extremely unlikely the Chinese leaders will respond to our demands,” Joseph Cheng Yu-shek, a political science professor at the City University of Hong Kong and a longtime advocate of fuller democracy in the city, said in an interview outside the main government complex. “We are here to say we are not going to give up, we will continue to fight on. We are here because as long as we fight on, at least we haven’t lost.” Joshua Wong, a 17-year-old student leader, wrote Thursday on Twitter: “Don’t think that this will be over soon. This is fundamentally a war of patience and a test of our endurance.” Chris Buckley and Alan Wong contributed reporting.
Posted on: Thu, 02 Oct 2014 18:05:37 +0000
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