MCLC: Leung Chun-ying vows to clear protesters

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Leung Chun-ying vows to clear protesters
Source: The Guardian (10/4/14): http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/04/hong-kong-protesters-cleared-monday-chief-executive
Hong Kong protesters must be cleared by Monday, chief executive says
Leung Chun-ying makes TV address as legislators suggest government might act to clear streets no later than Sunday
By Tani Branigan
Pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong must be cleared by Monday, the region’s chief executive has announced, following further violent clashes on Saturday.
As thousands of people gathered again near government offices in the city centre area of Admiralty on Saturday, Leung Chun-ying – who has rejected demonstrators’ demands for him to step down – said in a televised address that it was urgent that all entrances to government headquarters were clear by Monday so staff could work, and roads unblocked so schools could reopen.
Speaking a day after attacks on peaceful protesters, he urged citizens to keep calm and avoid violence, and said that if conflict between pro-democracy groups those opposed to the Occupy Central movement continued, it would be “very likely to keep going out of hand”.
The Occupy movement had seriously affected people’s lives, incomes and public services, he said.
Former Democratic Party legislator Law Chi-Kwong urged the public not to go to Admiralty and warned that if they did they should be prepared for attempts to disperse them. He told the South China Morning Post that the government might act “no later than tomorrow, or even earlier”.
The heads of universities committee issued an appeal to students to leave all Occupy rallying areas and put safety first.
Earlier, the security secretary angrily denied accusations that the government had ignored or even condoned violent attacks on pro-democracy protesters on Friday night.
Police confirmed, however, that eight of 19 men arrested during clashes in Causeway Bay and Mong Kok, two of the city’s busiest shopping districts, had triad backgrounds. They were detained for illegal assembly.
Protest leaders called off talks with the government after the attacks on Friday night, complaining that police had stood by as men trying to remove protesters hit, punched and sexually assaulted them. More than 50 people were injured, officials said.
Thin police lines tried to hold back men taking swipes at other demonstrators and officers said reinforcements were unable to reach Mong Kok sooner because of barricades the protesters had erected. “I am aware that people have said the government has turned a blind eye towards the triads, or even was co-operating with triads,” RTHK WOT’S THAT???? reported the secretary for security, Lai Tung-kwok, as saying.
“These accusations are invented and very excessive,” he said, adding that the police “faithfully, truthfully” enforced the law.
The Hong Kong Federation of Students has claimed that the government and police “connived” in the assaults on the protesters – allegations also made by Occupy Central founders and pan-democratic legislators. James To, the deputy chairman of the legislative council’s security panel, said the government “used organised, orchestrated forces and even triad gangs in [an] attempt to disperse citizens”, according to the South China Morning Post.
Hundreds more protesters gathered in Mong Kok on Saturday afternoon, saying they had come because they feared further attacks on the site. A smaller group of counter-protesters formed in the same area and there were heated exchanges.
Both the pro-democracy protesters and those opposing them have claimed the other side was being paid to take to the streets.
Police were present in higher numbers than on the previous day and tied a man’s hands with a plastic restraint and escorted him away after he was chased down and surrounded by protesters who said he had hit one of them without provocation.
One man in his 50s, who asked that his name not be used because he is a civil servant, said he was there to back the students. “They have to face the government, the police, closed-minded people who are against the protests and those who are paid to do violence just to threaten them and drive them from the streets. I was in Causeway Bay yesterday and I saw the hooligans who were relentlessly using force, spilling other people’s blood,” he said.
“You can arrest for illegal assembly. No problem. They are prepared to face the legal consequences. You can’t ask people to use violence against them. You see the students using only their bodies to keep away violence: they have no weapons. They are just raising their hands.”
The mass movement was sparked by Beijing’s plans to maintain tight control over the election of the next chief executive in 2017. The government says the introduction of universal suffrage is a step forward, but protesters complain they have been cheated and are being given only “fake” democracy because Beijing will determine the nominations.
Student demonstrators and supporters of a broader civil disobedience campaign gained wider support after police used teargas and pepper spray in failed attempts to disperse them last weekend.
Others in the city have complained about the inconvenience the protesters have caused. Many Mong Kok residents criticised the disruption caused to their lives by the occupation of a busy crossroads. One elderly man shouted at protesters that they were infringing his freedoms because he could no longer walk down the streets.
Andy Yeung, a 60-year-old driver, said: “I was born in Hong Kong and brought up in Hong Kong. I love Hong Kong. This is already China’s place. These kind of young people are not patriotic. They just love freedom. They are running wild. It’s too much. This is our life and they are causing chaos. If you want to oppose the government, you don’t have to affect people’s livelihoods.”
One demonstrator, Lavine Ho, a 26-year-old hospital worker, said: “People should understand what students are fighting for, for our future and democracy. That affects all of us.”
Cheung Tak-keung, Hong Kong’s assistant police commissioner, said his forces might yet arrest more people over Friday’s violence,. The priority was to separate the opposing groups and prevent further physical contact in chaotic conditions, the South China Morning Post reported him as saying.
Student leaders have said the government must provide a fuller explanation of what happened in Mong Kok before they will reconsider holding talks with the chief secretary, Carrie Lam. The government offered talks following huge protests that at their peak saw tens of thousands in the city centre.
The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Hong Kong (FCCHK) also issued a statement condemning attacks on journalists in Mong Kok, including claims that police hit one RTHK reporter. “In one case police were observed leading an alleged assailant to a taxi instead of making an arrest,” it said. “The FCCHK is deeply disturbed by these reports, especially those ascribed directly to police officers, or where police could have intervened but do not appear to have done so.”
by denton.2 at osu.edu on October 4, 2014
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